#PROVINCIAL OUTLOOK
Harare
Pro-democracy campaigner
Makomborero Haruzivishe who
spent months in incarcerated in
prison for standing up for human
rights was finally granted a bail
which saw him out of prison. On 7
January the High Court ended
Haruzivishe’s several months of
detention. The court ordered
Haruzivishe to pay ZWL 20000 bail,
reside at his given address and
report twice a week at the Police
Law and Order section. However,
despite being granted bail, there
were delays in his release resulting
in his anxious friends and fellow
party members protesting at the
Remand prison. He had to spend
another night in prison with prison
officials stating that there was an
error on his release papers. He was
finally released the following day.
Manicaland
In Mutare Central, the tensions that
followed the disputed Zanu PF
provincial elections remained high.
In one of the incidents, Zanu PF
supporters threatened to vote for
CCC leader Nelson Chamisa in the
2023 elections in protest against
irregularities witnessed in the
provincial polls.
In the recent polls, Mike Madiro
retained the provincial
chairpersonship and Happiness
Nyakuedwa won in the women’s
league and Stanely Sakupwanya the
youth league.
The losing candidates lodged their
complaints with the party’s
supreme decision making body, the
Politburo claiming the voting
process was rigged.
In addition to the squabbles in
Zanu PF, partisan distribution of
food and other aid continued in
Nyanga South and Chipinge East.
As has become an unfortunate
trend, opposition supporters were
denied aid by the Zanu PF officials
who, like everywhere else, have
taken over the distribution
processes.
In ward 17, Chipinge East, a Zanu
PF youth secretary, Barlex
Chirinzepi, allegedly stole food aid
from the government’s Department
of Social Welfare meant for an
entire village, and no action was
taken by the local leadership.
Chirinzepi allegedly took nine 50kg
bags of maize and used names of
his family members to sign for the
food, in the process depriving a
whole village.
Masvingo
In Gutu West, Chatsworth Chief
Serima (born Vengai Rushwaya) and
the Zanu PF MP John Paradza
allegedly ordered a teacher at
Serima High School in Gutu West,
Chatsworth, to find another school
as he was considered a “security
threat” at his current school. The
traditional leader and Paradza
allegedly enlisted the services of
state security agents from the
Intelligence Department to have
Ngugama forced out of the school
after labelling him a security threat
for his labour activism with the
Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union
of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ).
Said ARTUZ of the issue, “While we
are pushing for the revival of the
classroom. State actors & ZANU PF
cadres are escalating victimization
of trs further suffocating the
classroom.
MP Paradza in Gutu is deploying
thugs & State agents to haunt a
teacher at Serima High accusing
him of not supporting Zanu PF.”
The chief claimed ARTUZ was an
appendage of the opposition CCC.
Lawyers representing the teacher
then wrote a letter to Gutu District
Schools Inspector (DSI), Ronald
Muganhu complaining against his
active involvement in the matter.
In another case, at Nyika Growth
Point in Bikita West, assailants in
an unmarked vehicle abducted
John Mupanduki on 8 January at
around 2 a.m. He was found
dumped in Mashava the following
day tortured and disoriented.
Mupanduki later made an official
report at Bikita Police Station Law
and Order after an initial report at
Nyika Police Base.
Midlands
In the Midlands province, Zanu PF
intra-party squabbles were the
highlights of the month.
These squabbles are resulting from
the party’s provincial polls
conducted in December 2021. .
The volatility in the province
intensified after President
Mnangagwa fired former state
security minister Owen Ncube.
Ncube is alleged to be the leader of
a vigilante group in Midlands, AlShabaab, which is known for
terrorizing residents and party
supporters. The intra-party
tensions remain high as Ncube
seeks to maintain control of some
parts of the province.
Mashonaland Central
Zanu PF factional disputes
continued in Mashonaland Central
with senior party activists vowing
to make the province ungovernable
following the disputed provincial
elections in which Kazembe
Kazembe was re-elected as the
provincial chairperson for
Mashonaland Central.
Kazembe Kazembe who was
reportedly trailing behind
Tafadzwa Musarara, eventually won
the elections when votes from
Mbire and Guruve overturned
Musarara’s lead.
This led to growing tensions with
allegations that Kazembe doctored
the Guruve results and used ‘ghost
voters’ to win.
The disputed elections results were
challenged and a complaint was
raised by war veterans in
Mashonaland to the Zanu PF
politburo to give a final say on the
issue.
The tension in Zanu PF will
continue to keep the province a
political hotspot ahead of the 2023
elections.