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Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu

Temba Dube Deputy News Editor
ZANU-PF politburo member Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu has slammed the party’s provincial chairperson for Bulawayo, Professor Callistus Ndlovu, calling him “educated but empty” for suggesting that the 1987 Unity Accord should be done away with as it has already served its purpose.
Prof Ndlovu told thousands of people at the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe’s “meet the people” rally at AmaZulu Sports Club in Bulawayo on Wednesday last week that the Unity Accord had outlived its purpose and was now being abused by power hungry officials to sow discord in Zanu-PF.

He also said reserving one of the Vice Presidency posts for former PF-Zapu members was divisive as it defeated the purpose of unity in which Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu became one.

His remarks came at a time when five ex-Zapu cadres, Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, former diplomat Ambassador Phelekezela Mphoko, Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri and Home Affairs Minister Cde Kembo Mohadi, were vying for the country’s vice presidency.

Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu has since declared that he is not interested in the post.

In an exclusive interview at his home in Bulawayo on Tuesday, Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu said Prof Ndlovu was trying to destroy something that he had not built.

“He is the least qualified person to comment on the Unity Accord because he was not there when it came into being. He is just destroying what other people built,” he said.

“Who is Callistus? Remember he was kicked out of PF-Zapu after calling the party a dead donkey. That dead donkey kicked him. He is one of the learned people but his education is not useful. He has no foresight. His political history is full of confusion.”

Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu said he was not surprised to hear Prof Ndlovu denouncing the Unity Accord as he was a “habitual destroyer”.

“I was not at the rally but when I heard him, I saw at once that he was back to his old tricks of denouncing Zapu. In military terms, he is what we call cannon fodder. Do you think he will ever speak well of Zapu after saying it was a dead donkey?” he asked.

Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu said Prof Ndlovu was in the political wilderness after being excluded from PF-Zapu and had only recently resurfaced as provincial chairperson.

“Even then, he is just vapid and failing to be the salt of the party.”

Cde Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu said Prof Ndlovu should remember that his hands were dirty as he was one of the people implicated in the Willowgate scandal which resulted in a former Cabinet Minister Cde Maurice Nyagumbo committing suicide.

Speaking at the First Lady’s rally, Prof Ndlovu said: “I said I should tell you that the Unity Accord is loved by the people but we’ve seen that there’re some people who want to abuse it.

“There’re some people who think that when Cde Mugabe and Cde Joshua Nkomo signed that document, they signed as if it was a transaction.

“I’m saying they were signing a transformational document not a document that would stay like that”.

Prof Ndlovu said a man once told him that to them, “the Unity Accord is like something that when one is sleeping and dreaming, wakes up and looks at the time and checks who has died and how far I’m in line so that probably I could land that position”.

“The Unity Accord is not about that. The Unity Accord said there would be transformation, meaning that the party will be united and not that people would keep identifying themselves as Zanu or Zapu,” he said.