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Cde Kasukuwere

Tendai Mugabe Senior Reporter
Zanu-pf Harare Province has told embattled party National Political Commissar Cde Saviour Kasukuwere to stop interfering with their provincial structures after he issued a statement purporting to have nullified the province’s decision to appoint Cde Justice Zvandasara as acting chairperson.

This came after the dismissal of Cde Charles Tawengwa who stood accused of cavorting with Cde Kasukuwere to the detriment of the business of the province.

Among the charges Cde Kasukuwere who has been rejected by nine out of zanu-pf’s 10 provinces faces, is undue interference in provincial affairs.

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In separate interviews, Cde Zvandasara and the provincial secretary for Administration Cde George Mashavave said Cde Kasukuwere’s statement exposed his dirty hands. They both said Cde Kasukuwere issued his statement while the Provincial Coordinating Committee was still in session.

They said it was unclear how Cde Kasukuwere came to know about the decision that was yet to be communicated to him formally.

Cde Zvandasara started work as acting provincial chairman yesterday. He dismissed Cde Kasukuwere as divisive, while Cde Mashavave described his statement as unfortunate.

Cde Zvandasara was appointed acting chairperson on Sunday by the Harare Provincial Coordinating Committee, taking over from Cde Charles Tawengwa.

He is deputised by Cde Andy Mhlanga. Cde Tawengwa is a Politburo and Central Committee member.

In an interview yesterday, Cde Zvandasara said: “I do not get instructions from anyone except my province. The mandate that Cde Kasukuwere is talking about comes from the people, not from a single individual.

“As Harare province, we still stand by our resolution that we rejected Cde Kasukuwere as the National Political Commissar until the Presidium pronounce his fate.

“He is a divisive political commissar. His hurried statement that was issued before we even finished the PCC showed that he was controlling Harare Province through Cde Tawengwa.

“He even called our Secretary for Administration (Cde Mashavave) during the PCC, but we advised him to ignore the call. That is interference of the highest order because a National Political Commissar should not go around hunting for rumours.

“There are laid down communication procedures that we follow as a party and he should have waited for that communication. He even called me last Friday accusing me of trying to usurp power from Cde Tawengwa. He has no right to call me discussing rumours.”

During his first day in office, Cde Zvandasara superintended over primary elections for ward 46 council by-elections won by Cde Chibururu. He said there was smooth transition of authority as Cde Tawengwa was advised to revert back to his Politburo and Central Committee positions.

“There was smooth transfer and we conducted successful primary elections for ward 46 by-elections,” he said. “What I am appealing from the senior leadership is to stop interfering with operations of provincial structures and learn to respect their decisions.

“There is also a big gap between the province and the Politburo, so Cde Tawengwa was too senior and as such he was just dictating what he wants to the province without anyone questioning him.

“We have also come up with a master strategy for 2018 where we are going to do massive restructuring starting from next week.”

Cde Zvandasara said the PCC discussed several issues and it was noted that Cde Tawengwa was involved in the Norton saga that saw Zanu-PF losing to independent candidate Mr Temba Mliswa last year.

He said during Cde Tawengwa’s tenure, Harare province was implicated in rigging of Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chairmanship elections, resulting in a re-rerun.

Efforts to get a comment from Cde Kasukuwere were fruitless.