Special adviser to the president Christopher Mutsvangwa has warned that President Emmerson Mnangagwa may lose this year’s elections has and put Zanu PF commissar, Engelbert Rugeje on blast over the controversial polls in which he lost as well.
“It is inconceivable that the President will win given that the party’s members have been largely disenfranchised,” he said.
“We realised that instead of being in the primary elections to provide peace and a stable environment in which Zanu PF members freely express themselves and choose their leaders, the national commissar, being a political novice, sought advice from a rehabilitated ex-Gamatox commissar in the form of Webster Shamu to turn police into returning-officers.”
Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs minister Webster Shamu is a former Zanu PF political commissar and was dismissed after being accused of colluding with ex VP Joice Mujuru in a plot to topple Mugabe.
His wife, Constance Tsomondo was vying for the same Norton seat with Mutsvangwa before being removed from the candidates list . Mutsvangwa however lost to Langton Mutendereki in a twist of fate.
Mutsvangwa lashed out at Rugeje whom he felt did a poor job with the chaotic primaries.
“The new national commissar, while he is a comrade, lacks the party’s institutional memory and failed to handle this issue well, leading to the disenfranchisement of thousands of party members countrywide,” he said.
“The political commissar relinquished his position as chief returning officer of the primary election to the police, who are supposed to be there to maintain law and order.”
“Zanu PF’s problem has always been the abuse of the office of the political commissar and we are seeing this again,” he said.
“So, as war veterans, just as we did during the Mugabe era, give choice between a party that has lost through acts of omission or commission its fiduciary role, then we will be left with no choice but to go with the people.”
Mutsvangwa however said he would not contest the elections, as an independent candidate, but insisted the party needed to take “corrective measures to avoid such eventualities because we will stand with the people and we know their position”.
“The first line of protest is our election agents, who refused to sign the results and secondly that the war veterans countrywide, who have declared that they will choose the people instead of the party if forced into making a choice,” he said.
