SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
ZANU PF factional squabbles which saw senior party leaders publicly quarreling over the provincial elections are a direct consequence of President Robert Mugabe’s political selfishness, a political commentator has said. Analyst Dumisani O. Nyongolo Nkomo told SW Radio Africa’s Cutting Edge program that it was unimaginable that Mugabe had no hand in the squabbles, considering his trusted spokesperson George Charamba was involved. The crisis arose from provincial elections held a fortnight ago in Manicaland, Midlands and Mashonaland Central amidst reports of rigging and vote buying. Mugabe had tried to contain the crisis before his departure to Singapore and Kuwait for personal and official business last Wednesday. But as soon as Mugabe left the country, the squabbles erupted with party officials trading accusations. Charamba suggested that the results of Mashonaland Central provincial elections were null and void by announcing late last week that the ZANU PF politburo had yet to receive the results. This infuriated senior party leaders like Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo who accused Charamba of ‘jumping the gun’ by announcing party issues when he was ‘a mere civil servant’ and not a party spokesperson. Charamba refused to budge insisting that he had simply communicated Mugabe’s message. So fierce were the squabbles that the party cancelled this weekend’s provincial elections to pave way for an emergence politburo meeting which Mugabe is expected to chair on Saturday According to Nkomo Mugabe, who returns from Asia at the end of this week, will seize the moment to play the unifier and dictate the developments within the party, right up to the annual conference scheduled for next month. Nkomo said that Mugabe will most likely contain the crisis for now and take the chance to control the feuding factions within the party. But, said Nkomo, the current crisis could be an indicator that ZANU PF will ‘implode’ after Mugabe pausing security concerns for both the country and the region.