President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ally and former Gokwe-Nembudziya legislator, Justice Mayor Wadyajena, has survived another Zanu PF chop after party spokesperson, Christopher Mutsvangwa, lifted suspensions on party members.
Mutsvangwa said the suspension of several party members including Wadyajena over the past few months were in violation of a standing Politburo order.
Wadyejena was suspended last month together with Florence Rwodzi and several other senior executives in Midlands for allegedly undermining the party’s candidates ahead of the August elections.
Several other party members, including former provincial chairman Larry Mavhima and Jorum Gumbo, the Special Advisor to the President responsible for Monitoring the Implementation of Government Programmes were also threatened with suspension for allegedly failing to campaign for the party.
Over 360 party supporters also faced the chop.
Several party members were also suspended in Harare province by the Godwills Masimirembwa provincial executive for various reasons, including failure to mobilise supporters for First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa’s meeting held at the Mbare Netball Complex.
Addressing a press conference in Harare, Mutsvangwa said the suspensions were null because they violated a prohibition order on the action imposed by the politburo.
He warned party members to stop the vindictive suspensions, claiming his party was an organised structure that respects party orders.
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Zanu PF, Mutsvangwa said, was different from the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) which he said its chaotic conduct has stampeded the country into elections following the recall of legislators and councillors by an impostor, Sebenzo Tshabangu.
“These suspensions are null. People must wait for a directive from the politburo, the standing order from the politburo is that there will not be a suspension,” Mutsvangwa told journalists in Harare yesterday.
“What we don’t want in the party is a replica of the chaos that is happening in the opposition. We are an organised party, and we rely on central orders from the President through the politburo.”
He added: “My sincere advice to party members is to desist from such action until they get direction from the politburo. We don’t want chaos. We don’t want petty settling of scores at the party, we celebrate our victory. We don’t have a reason for anyone to poke our fingers in other people’s noses.”
Wadyejena lost to Flora Buka during the primaries that were allegedly rigged by the Forever Association of Zimbabwe, a shadowy outfit run by the central intelligence organisation.
Buka, however, struggled to get numbers at her rallies, with the party provincial executive accusing Wadyajena of sabotaging her campaigns.
Party supporters from the constituency insisted they still wanted Wadyajena as their candidate.
Several meetings to try to unite party candidates with those who lost during primaries were held but no common ground was reached.
A disciplinary hearing for Wadyajena was abandoned after party members failed to show up.
Wadyejena was, however, later suspended on charges of sabotaging Buka.
Several other aspiring MPs who lost during the primaries were also suspended, together with their campaign team members, a situation that could have caused the biggest carnage in Mnangagwa’s backyard.
This is not the first time Wadyajena, the proverbial cat, has been threatened with suspension.
Last year, the provincial executive also proposed his suspension after he was arrested on allegations of corruption involving US$ 5 million money from the Cotton Company ay of Zimbabwe.
The proposal failed to find takers after it emerged party bigwigs were backing him.
He narrowly survived the chop in 2015 when he was arrested in Victoria Falls on allegations of insulting former First Lady Grace Mugabe.
His survival in the party was later secured by the coup on Mugabe in November 2017, which ushered in Mnangagwa, his political godfather.
