Financial Gazette (Harare)
30 May 2011
CONTROVERSIAL war veterans’ national chairperson, Jabulani Sibanda, who has been campaigning for ZANU-PF across Masv-ingo since last year denies the allegations, saying it was cheap propaganda emanating from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
But ZANU-PF insiders in the province are adamant Sibanda has ruffled feathers of senior politicians who are now counting the political costs to be incurred from his on-going campaign, code-named Ope-ration Kubudirana Pachena (Opera-tion Come out Clean).
The war veterans leader has been to virtually all the 26 parliamentary constituencies in Masvi-ngo, drumming up support for ZANU-PF and the party’s candidates in case general elections to end the inclusive government are held anytime from now.
Senior ZANU-PF officials are however, unhappy with Sibanda’s campaign methods amid allegations that he was “anointing” certain party candidates ahead of the official announcement of primary elections by the national party leadership.
President Robert Mugabe and several senior ZANU-PF officials have vowed that elections to end the wobbly inclusive government formed under the auspices of the Global Political Agreement betwe-en the two MDC formations led by Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube would be held this year, prompting intense jockeying for seats in Masvingo.
Ncube replaced Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara as leader of the other MDC formation.
Sibanda and a group of other boisterous war veterans are reportedly threatening villagers to vote for ZANU-PF in a bid to swing the pendulum in favour of the liberation movement, which suffered a major setback in the 2008 elections after losing most constituencies to the MDC-T.
The MDC-T garnered 12 seats against ZANU-PF’s 14 seats out of 26 parliamentary seats that were contested in Masvingo, once touted a one-party province by ZANU-PF bigwigs.
Sources said Sibanda’s presence was now causing headaches and drawing intense resentment from senior party leaders who now believed the war veterans’ leader had become an “authority unto himself”.
“We are indeed worried about what Jabu is doing because he seems to be forgetting that the war veterans association is an affiliate of the party and hence he should also be bound by those rules (binding ZANU-PF members) in whatever he is doing because we hear reports that he is even anointing some people as candidates in the coming general elections. That is not proper. He should simply stick to his mandate,” said a senior party official who refused to be named.
Another ZANU-PF official insinuated that the war veterans leader was now “getting too big for his shoes” by anointing some party candidates before the national party leadership annou-nces primary election dates.
“I heard that in some areas he is moving around with some people whom he is parading as the candidates, which people must support come elections. That is very wrong because primary elections have not yet been announced and moreover it is not his duty to do that. The sooner he stops that the better,” added the official.
ZANU-PF Masvingo provincial chairperson, Lovemore Matuke, was non-committal when asked for a comment, saying no one was supposed to campaign for any candidate until the national leadership sets primary election dates.
“What I can only say is that as a party, we are saying campaigning for candidates has not started because the dates for primary elections are yet to be announced. Party election directorates will be responsible for choosing which candidates will contest the primary elections and which candidates will not,” said Matuke.
During his campaign trail in Masvingo Central, Sibanda has allegedly been rooting for Eddison Zvobgo, the son of the late ZANU-PF legal supremo who shared the same name.
This has reportedly courted the ire of other prospective ZANU-PF candidates in the constituency, including businessman, Edmund Mhere, who is also eying the seat.
Sibanda also unnerved the Masvingo senior ZANU-PF leadership after he allegedly openly campaigned for a former senior army officer, Retired Colonel Suki Masanganise, as the ZANU-PF senatorial candidate for Gutu, a position also being eyed by party heavyweights such as former deputy minister, Shuvai Mahofa.
Self-styled Masvingo provincial war veterans faction leader, Isaiah Muzenda, has come out with guns blazing, accusing Sibanda of damaging the party’s reputation.
The goat-bearded Muzenda charged that Sibanda had beco-me a liability to ZANU-PF.
“As war veterans we have already written a letter to him telling him of our displeasure with what he is doing. He is tarnishing the name of the war veterans through his actions in his campaigns and we want to tell him to get out of the province now,” charged Muzenda.
But Sibanda said he would not be distracted from campaigning for ZANU-PF.
“I have no time for sell-outs. It is the propaganda from Tsvangirai. I am not causing any problems here, the MDC is running scared of fresh elections. War veterans are happy with the ground we have covered in Masvingo. The MDC is really scared that people here have realised the lies the party told them in 2008,” said Sibanda.
He claims that his campaign in Masvingo was predicated on reminding villagers about the price which was paid for Zimbabwe to attain its independence.
AllAfrica – All the Time
Taken from:
Sibanda Divides Zanu-Pf