Information and Publicity Minister Jonathan Moyo seems to have become so powerful that he can literally get away with murder.
For a junior politician, who was only appointed to the central committee and politburo as a deputy six months ago, Moyo showed he had a lot of political clout when he publicly stated that only a fool can believe that the ruling ZANU-PF lost the Masvingo mayoral seat to the Movement for Democratic Change because of factionalism in the town.
The only top ranking politician who had given this reason was none other than national chairman, John Nkomo, number four in the party.
In reality, no matter how correct his assessment might have been, Moyo was literally calling Nkomo a fool. And he got away with it.
Eddison Zvobgo was suspended from the party in the late 1980s for less offending remarks against Vice-President Simon Muzenda and the late Maurice Nyagumbo.
No disciplinary action was taken against Moyo although there are reports that the ZANU-PF old guard is now trying to clip his wings.
Although the MDC has proved that it is very strong in urban areas and actually won the Masvingo urban parliamentary seat in last June’s elections, it would be foolhardy to believe that factionalism within ZANU-PF has died in Masvingo.
The truth is that one faction, the Hungwe faction, has now taken over from the Zvobgo faction.
No matter what people might think about Eddison Zvobgo, he still commands a lot of respect in the town.
Observers say ZANU-PF can have the elections nullified but as long as it buries its head in the sand pretending its house is in order it will continue to be clobbered by the MDC, not that it would win anyway, but the margin of loss would be narrowed.
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