Former Zanu PF legislator for Chivi South, Killer Zivhu has lashed out at elements within the party’s Masvingo Province purpotedly ‘working on a sinister ploy to discredit’ him, saying he has a long-standing relationship with Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Zivhu was controversially expelled from the ruling party and subsequently lost his Chivi South seat a couple of months ago, after the provincial leadership accused him of trying to organise a meeting between First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa and opposition MDC Alliance president Nelson Chamisa’s wife, Sithokhozile.
The purpoted meeting between the two powerful ladies was perceptibly a broader plan by the dramatically dismissed Zivhu to bring President Mnangagwa and his political arch-rival in the 2018 harmonised elections, to the same negotiation table over the biting economic woes bedevilling the country.
However, the former Chivi South MP has repeatedly dismissed the claims as unfounded and, in turn, blames a clique of ‘opportunists’ within the province who, out of sheer chance, occupied strategic political posts within the party.
And, pouring his heart out to Zwnews in a wide-ranging interview yesterday evening, Zivhu said despite being villified by certain quarters within Zanu PF Masvingo Province, he found solace in the fact that he was on good books with President Mnangagwa.
Zivhu sensationally claimed that some provincial members of the party were even aligned to the mutilated G40 faction which was viciously opposed to Mnangagwa’s presidential ambitions during the twilight stages of deposed late long ruling strongman, Robert Mugabe’s reign.
He said the same individuals were continuously fighting him but has defiantly vowed to disregard their ‘hatred’ while pledging to engage in various developmental projects across the country ‘to ensure that President Mnangagwa wins the 2023 elections’.
“I have a good relationship with the president, Cde ED Mnangagwa as a person and this relationship did not just begin yesterday,” the former legislator told our reporter.
“It is a relationship which started some years ago and, because of that relationship, I have been working so hard and tirelessly in my capacity as an individual to ensure that ED becomes the president in 2023,” he said.
Speaking of the impending Chivi South by-elections which are set to come up with his substantive replacement in the House of Assembly, Zivhu said:
“It is not necessary that I contest as an independent candidate despite being pressed by supporters who are not happy at all with the way some haters orchestrated my dismissal from parliament. If you happen to check, you can see that in a short space of time- for the 24 months I have been in Parliament- I actually accomplished many projects including the construction of 80 classrooms blocks in schools within my constituency”.
Zivhu also added that during his prematurely halted tenure of office, he managed to spearhead various projects for the betterment of the livelihoods of Chivi South inhabitants despite being exposed to agonising counteractions from some provincial members who he dismissed as ‘not pro-people’.
“I will not stop working for the people and for the president, simply because there are certain malcontents fighting me. I have worked with people from this area since 1995 before I entered politics and they paid me back by voting for me as Councillor in 2000,” he narrated.
The ex-lawmaker said ‘because of the respect and journey (he has) travelled with the President’, he was going to ensure that he works towards endearing the Zimbabwe leader with the electorate ahead of the next elections, expected three years from now.
He further quipped that if it is God’s decision that he will have another chance to represent the people, he was going to definitely become a parliamentarian again.
“I assisted the people of Chivi South not because I wanted to become a Member of Parliament. I assisted them because I come from the same area with them. In fact, it is not only Chivi South which has benefited. I have assisted people in the district, in the province and in the country because I am a Zimbabwean. If we don’t do it ourselves, who do we expect to do it for us?”
Zivhu added:
“So, it is not about power. If God says I will go to Parliament, then I will definitely go back to Parliament one day. You cannot stop what God wants. I can give you one example of David Coltart from the MDC. He was in Parliament when the Smith regime was in power but he bounced back into the same parliament 21 years after we won independence. So, if I was meant to be in Parliament, you will see me again in the August House”.
“Chivi South is a Zanu PF seat. It has been a Zanu PF seat since 1980 and it will not be okay for Killer Zivhu to be blamed in the event that the party loses its grip on the constituency for the first time since independence. You cannot change your surname because you’ve been chased away from home. You wait until such a time that the father sees your importance and call you back home,” said the former MP.
Going forward, Zivhu said the provincial leadership must bury petty personal differences for the good of the revolutionary party.
“In the 2018 elections, I was voted by over 17 000 people and those people do not belong to individuals or party officials- they belong to God. So, before entertaining our different personal egos, we must put the vision of the president first. We must put the interests of the party before our personal interests,” he said.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) recently announced that the by-elections in vacant constituencies were going to be held on or before 5 December 2020.
Zwnews.
