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Harare Bureau
ZANU-PF national spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo’s deliberate misrepresentation of outcomes of the party’s Politburo meetings calls for President Mugabe to fire him from the post with immediate effect, lawyers and political analysts have said.

Others were of the opinion that after being exposed for propounding his viewpoints as resolutions of the revolutionary party, Cde Gumbo should resign on his own accord.

The Midlands and Matabeleland North provinces’ coordinating committees resolved over the weekend that Cde Gumbo was no longer fit to remain party spokesperson as he abused his post by speaking along factional lines at the expense of the party’s position.

Political analyst and Zanu-PF legislator Ambassador Christopher Mutsvangwa, yesterday said Cde Gumbo should call it a day for doing a hatchet job for a faction.

He said Cde Gumbo was “clairvoyant” and “putchist all the way to old age.”

“Caught between love of a faction and loyalty to President Mugabe, he should just resign or be shown the door,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.

“Where will he stop next with this dangerous folly? God forbids, he can announce a new supreme national leader out of his own head. He is clearly a menacing national security threat calling for urgent redress.”

Ambassador Mutsvangwa said Cde Gumbo, who is linked to the VP Mujuru faction, had become the faction’s spin doctor.

“I started my media career under his guard at Chimoio in 1977 in the thick of the armed struggle and he never taught this subversive nonsense he is currently espousing,” he said.

“He had a very brief useful period of re-entry into the struggle in 1977-78 before he found his way back to prison before the end of the war. His unbridled ambition saw him among anti-party coup plotters captured at Inchope, Mozambique. Provincial leaderships who elect President Mugabe are within their right to jettison Cde Gumbo who has donned the mantle of faction spin doctor.”

Another political analyst, Dr Charity Manyeruke, said the alleged lies by Cde Gumbo warranted his expulsion.

She said a spokesperson of an organisation should represent the “spirit of the meeting.”

“We expect a person called a spokesperson to speak for the party, not for himself, his family, friends or clique,” she said. “His duty is to give people general ideas of what would’ve happened in the meetings and it’s imperative for him to speak for the party.

“It’s just like a secretary in a meeting who should represent the spirit of the meeting. Once one becomes biased, there’ll be no credibility and once there’s that, then there’ll forever be a problem of trust.

“Every time you say something, people will begin to doubt. In this case, he (President Mugabe) who appoints members into the Politburo should take action against Cde Gumbo.”

Zanu-PF Midlands provincial spokesperson Cde Cornelius Mupeperi said the province expected stern action to be taken against those who abuse their offices like Cde Gumbo.

“As a province, we don’t appoint,” he said. “We’ve raised our concerns and it’s up to the powers that be to see what to do with our concerns. We’re not happy with him.”

Mashonaland West acting chairperson, Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi, said Cde Gumbo did not deserve the post of spokesperson because of his “blatant lies”.

“He has been misrepresenting issues for long and as for some of us, we don’t have kind words for him as he continuously defended his faction on the issue of Temba Mliswa,” he said.

“Moreover, he communicated falsehoods on the status of youth chairpersons saying their cases had been referred to the disciplinary committee when it was not the Politburo position. To date, he has not proved to us why he was doing all this.

“So, we no longer have faith in him because of his barefaced lies.”

Cde Gumbo on Monday said he was appointed by President Mugabe and would never twist what he would have said.

“The problem is with people who want to effect regime change and they’re the ones who want the words to put in line with their agendas,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, I’ve executed my duty perfectly and the President would’ve complained if I was twisting his words or the resolutions of the Politburo.”

As for the resolution by Midlands province calling on him to go, Cde Gumbo said: “It’s his (provincial spokesperson Cde Cornelius Mupeperi) own thinking and if you’re an investigative journalist, check who that person is in the province.

“We met for the sole reason to prepare for the congress and I was surprised by what he said was the resolution of the province.”

Another commentator said President Mugabe needed to restore order in the party.

“President should take action now to show that he’s in charge. Whoever needs to be fired, that must be done quickly before people become big headed,” said the analyst.

Goodwine Mureriwa said it was clear from President Mugabe’s address to party supporters at Zanu-PF headquarters last Thursday that he would deal with people causing divisions in the party at the appropriate time.

“When he addressed party supporters last Thursday, it was clear that President Mugabe approaches issues with a calm mind,” he said.

“He was paying attention to submissions from the factions. As for other posts, it’s up to the people to make informed choices at congress, but as for the Politburo, he will hear what people say first and will take action later. As anticipated, he’ll make adjustments that go with his vision and what people would have said.”