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Cde Jason Machaya

Patrick Chitumba, Midlands Bureau Chief
THE Minister of State for the Midlands province, Cde Jason Machaya, yesterday said he serves at the benevolence of President Mugabe and is not linked to any party faction.

The Minister said he was not aligned to the alleged Lacoste and G40 factions and was only behind President Mugabe who put him in his current position.

Cde Machaya opened up to The Chronicle in the wake of allegations by the Zanu PF Midlands Provincial Coordinating Committee that he was creating parallel structures in the province.

He said he wasn’t a member of any of the so-called factions as infighting would stall development in the province.

“Let me set the record straight here. I’m not G40 nor do I support any factional activities in the province. I’m an appointee of the President. I serve at his benevolence. My role is to represent the President as the Minister of State and that is what I am doing,” Cde Machaya said.

“I agree that we might have our own differences but those shouldn’t destroy us. We must remain a united party as we go for the 2018 elections. We must win the elections for President Mugabe who has led us wholeheartedly all this time. I serve at the President’s pleasure.”

He urged all members of the party in the province to approach him and engage him if they have issues with him.

“I have never had any problems with any member of the party. I have nothing against any of them. If I erred in my conduct as a Minister they should approach me and resolve the issues. I was recently cleared of any wrong doing by the party after the same people raised unfounded allegations. My feeling is that they have ulterior motives and that will not deter me from executing my mandate as the Provincial Minister,” Cde Machaya said.

Recently, the Midlands PCC meeting alleged that Cde Machaya was a member of the G40 faction.

Zanu-PF provincial spokesperson Cde Cornelius Machaya said: “In the past PCC, we talked about Cde Machaya, it has been proven that he is abusing his office to pursue a factional agenda. He is a G40 member who is going about setting up parallel structures. He abuses his office through improper acquisition of land, he is misleading youths and grabbing land from other party members to cause disunity so we have lost confidence in (Cde) Machaya”.

@pchitumba1