New twist to ZANU-PF Bulawayo fiasco

Cracks within the ruling ZANU-PF continue to widen as it emerged yesterday that the provincial executive in Bulawayo was not dissolved but resigned.

The party’s national political commissar Elliot Manyika told the media on Monday that the provincial executive in Bulawayo had been suspended for incompetence and lack of direction and had been replaced by an interim executive led by Norman Mabhena.

“The Bulawayo provincial executive was dissolved for incompetence and lack of direction,” Manyika was quoted as saying. “As the political commissar, I regularly assess party structures and it was apparent that members of the Bulawayo province failed to perform.”

Sources that attended Monday’s meeting between Manyika and the executive, however, said the provincial executive had resigned en masse after the meeting because they were being frustrated by the local leadership.

The sources said their letter of resignation, which was accompanied by signatures of about 100 members of the executive, was handed to Manyika by acting chairman George Mlala who told him verbally about their resignation.

Mlala declined to comment on the issue.

Sources said one of the main reasons why the provincial leadership had resigned was that they were being frustrated by local members of the politburo who had set up a parallel structure that had even attended the party’s congress in Harare late last year.

The executive also complained that it was being attacked every day for not voting certain members into the central committee yet that was not their responsibility but that of district coordinating committees.

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