Zvobgo, Mavhaire snub the President
Zanu PF’s deep-rooted factionalism in Masvingo surfaced again last Sunday
when party stalwarts Eddison Zvobgo and Dzikamai Mavhaire, snubbed President
Mugabe’s presidential campaign rally held at Mucheke Stadium.
The rally coincided with Vice-President Simon Muzenda’s 79th birthday party
celebrations held at the same venue.
Mavhaire yesterday said he and Zvobgo did not attend the Mucheke birthday
party-cum-Zanu PF presidential campaign rally because they had different
plans for the day.
He said, apart from that, no formal invitation had been extended to them by
the party.
“We were not formally invited, so we felt we could not attend the rally,”
said Mavhaire. “We were having our own rally as per our own plans.”
While Mugabe addressed party supporters at Mucheke Stadium, Zvobgo and
Mavhaire addressed their own rally at Dikitiki Business Centre, 40km south
of Masvingo town.
Dikitiki is in Masvingo Central constituency which was won by Silas Mangono
of the MDC who trounced Mavhaire during last year’s parliamentary election.
Zvobgo is the Member of Parliament for Masvingo South.
Yesterday, Zvobgo and Mavhaire vowed that they would not campaign for Mugabe
in the forthcoming presidential election, saying there were adequate party
structures for that task.
Mavhaire said they were not willing to be used by the party to campaign for
Mugabe.
He said: “Zvobgo was injured while campaigning for Mugabe in 1996, and where
is he now? This time we will not be used.”
Asked why they were having rallies in Masvingo Central an opposition MDC
stronghold, Mavhaire said: “If I do not thank the 8 000 people who voted for
me in last year’s election, then I am a fool.”
Zvobgo said they had lined up rallies in Masvingo South and Central to thank
those who voted for them in the June 2000 parliamentary election.
“We are just having victory celebrations in the two constituencies,” said
Zvobgo.
“If you come to our rallies you will see that we still have a huge
following.”
A former Minister without Portfolio, Zvobgo, fell out of favour with Mugabe
after he was ditched from the party’s politburo, Zanu PF’s powerful
decision-making organ.
In Masvingo, two distinct Zanu PF camps exist one led by Masvingo Governor
Josaya Hungwe with the blessing of Muzenda, and the other one led by Zvobgo.
Hungwe attended Muzenda’s birthday party celebrations at Mucheke Stadium.
In June last year, Muzenda made scathing remarks against Zvobgo and Mavhaire
while campaigning for the Zanu PF candidate, Charles Majange, in Chivi South
constituency.
Muzenda said: “I am called Mzee, the Vice-President of this country and
Second secretary of Zanu PF. Who is Zvobgo? Who is Zvobgo? Who is Mavhaire
to me?
“When President Mugabe is not there, I run the country, and if I sign your
death warrant you will hang. So, who are these two to me?”
On Sunday, Muzenda reaffirmed his loyalty to Mugabe. Likening themselves to
soccer strikers, Muzenda and Mugabe said they would not leave politics until
the land issue had been resolved.
In turn, Zvobgo has likened the leaders of his party, who are clinging on to
power, to men running in relay who refuse to “pass on the baton stick”.
Last week, Zvobgo was quoted by The Mirror in Masvingo saying he would not
allow Zanu PF to be abused by a few individuals.
On his part, Mavhaire, then a Zanu PF MP and chairman of Masvingo Province,
fell out with party loyalists when he told Parliament that Mugabe should
leave office. His utterances earned him a two-year suspension from holding
any positions within the party. Mavhaire later bounced back as the party’s
provincial chairman before he was booted out of office again, this time by
war veterans who dissolved his provincial executive last year.