Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is expected to spend the next six weeks on the campaign trail, mending fences with disgruntled provinces whose popular chairpersons have been suspended for attending the controversial Tsholotsho meeting to drum up support for Emmerson Mnangagwa’s failed bid for the party vice-presidency.
But party sources said his pleas “could fall on deaf ears” and “nothing short of lifting the suspensions will get cadres to campaign for the party”.
Zanu-PF director of elections William Nhara was, however, adamant that “differences won’t affect the campaign”, saying that winning the Matebeleland provinces was a top priority.
University of Zimbabwe political analyst Alois Masepe said Matebeleland, where the late Joshua Nkomo riveted the Ndebele into the mainstream of Zanu-PF after signing the 1987 unity accord between Zapu and Zanu, might not be that easy to win over. “The Ndebele lost confidence in the new Zapu leadership within Zanu-PF and defected to the opposition.”
The intention of the Tsholotsho meeting “was to replace the old guard with new blood within the Matebeleland provinces. They wanted to bring back the Zapu vote that had gone to the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change],” he said.
Among the suspended Zanu-PF officials are war veterans’ leader Jabulani Sibanda and former provincial leaders in Matebeleland south; Lloyd Siyoka, Matebeleland north; Jacob Mudenda, Midlands; July Moyo, Manicaland; Mark Madiro, Masvingo; and Daniel Shumba.
“They are not going to campaign for the party. We are losing all 22 seats in Matebeleland provinces to the opposition because the top leadership was careless,” a party insider told the Mail & Guardian.
A parliamentarian in the Midlands told the M&G that “they [party leadership] should have told us beforehand that we shouldn’t submit our nominations for the vice-president post.
“They allowed us to campaign only to turn against us when they realised we had six provinces in the bag. The people here are very angry … there isn’t so much enthusiasm.”
A fired-up Mugabe recently launched his party’s manifesto during a two-and-half-hour address in which British Prime Minister Tony Blair, United States President George Bush and the MDC came in for stick.
The Zanu-PF secretary for the commissariat, Elliot Manyika, warned the party’s youth that “those that shall engage in deliberate acts of violence shall not hide behind the party”. William Nhara told the M&G that “we can win these elections without engaging in violence”.
But Dr Lovemore Madhuku of the University of Zimbabwe believes Zanu-PF is not being sincere.
“They are trying to create the impression they stand for free and fair elections. They also don’t want their youth to go to the extreme and tarnish the election.”
“The situation on the ground is far from normal. Police officers in Kwekwe and Gokwe rural areas have been accused of being MDC supporters after arresting Zanu-PF youths who had engaged in forms of violence,” said MDC secretary general Professor Welshman Ncube.
The party launched its election manifesto last Sunday in Masvingo, 300km south of Harare. Economic grievances, unemployment, the shrinking manufacturing sector and governance featured prominently on the opposition agenda.