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Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
The Zanu-PF Politburo yesterday upheld the dismissal of Mashonaland West provincial chairman Cde Temba Mliswa and appointed his deputy Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi as the acting chairperson.
The much-awaited debate on allegations of extortion, corruption and abuse of office raised by the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe against Vice President Joice Mujuru was deferred to next Wednesday after outgoing Zanu-PF secretary for Women’s Affairs Cde Oppah Muchinguri indicated that she was unaware that the issue was on the agenda.

Cde Muchinguri, sources said, told the Politburo that she had not brought with her the requisite reports.

More so, Cde Muchinguri reportedly said that the First Lady’s programme was still ongoing.

Politburo sources said it was concluded that the no-confidence vote passed on Cde Mliswa by the provincial committee recently be upheld.

“The matter involving Cde Mliswa came up for discussion and President Mugabe said the no-confidence vote should stand and that deputy provincial chairperson Cde Ziyambi Ziyambi be the acting chairperson of the province,” said the source.

But party spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said the matter was still to be finalised.

“President Mugabe inquired about the issue and was told that the matter was supposed to have been discussed in the morning (yesterday), but the disciplinary committee could not proceed with the matter because some documents related to the matter were missing,” he said.

“So, the matter will be handled in the coming few days by Cde SK Moyo and Cde Mnangagwa and we expect a report on the issue during Wednesday’s Politburo meeting.”

However, sources said Cde Gumbo was not being sincere.

The Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial executive passed a vote of no-confidence in Cde Mliswa early this month, with 27 out of 48 members attending the meeting which surpassed the 26-member quorum required in the case.

Thereafter, the executive members signed a petition which they took to national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo and secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa.

Cde Mliswa was booted out mainly for disrespecting the party leadership through statements in the media and involvement with the American spy agency, the Central Intelligence Agency, one of whose operatives he took to his constituency to meet village heads.

Cde Mliswa was recently named among 12 Zanu-PF legislators who received funds and leaked intelligence information to US embassy official Mr Eric Little in exchange for funding.

Meanwhile, the much-hyped Politburo meeting was cut short by a power outage which affected the party’s headquarters and some parts of the city before allegations of corruption, subversion and abuse of office raised against Vice President Joice Mujuru could be discussed.

President Mugabe had set the tone for the meeting when he greeted Secretary for Women’s League Cde Oppah Muchinguri by reminding her that she was supposed to manage the situation with regards to the revelations against VP Mujuru.

“Ndimi makativambira mashoko kaimi kumadzimai?…apokaapo the fire is on, manage it,” said President Mugabe to Cde Muchinguri before he moved on to greet Cdes Gumbo, Nicholas Goche and Webster Shamu.

Cde Muchinguri, the outgoing leader of the Women’s League, recently announced the position taken by the organ that the First lady become its secretary.

Amai Mugabe then made some insights into the unacceptable behaviour of VP Mujuru which included incompetence and undermining the authority of the President before asking her to resign or risk being fired at the National People’s Congress in December.

Cde Muchinguri was expected to table a report on the First Lady’s rallies in the country’s 10 provinces, but had requested for postponement to next week just before the power blackout.

It was during the debate that VP Mujuru’s shananigans were to be discussed.

Expectations were high that the issue would be discussed in the meeting, with an unprecedented high number of journalists arriving at the Zanu-PF headquarters by mid-morning.

VP Mujuru was there by 9am.

Politburo members are known to arrive just when the meeting is about to start, but VP Mujuru chose to break with tradition and arrive almost six hours before it started.

President Mugabe arrived around midday and expressed surprise at the high number of journalists before he proceeded to his office.

He then went to the main boardroom where Politburo meetings are held at around 3pm and exchanged pleasantries with a number of Politburo members and jokingly told Cde Muchinguri that she had to manage the fires she had started.

He then moved to the top table where he greeted Cde Mutasa, VP Mujuru and Cde Khaya Moyo.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting had been prematurely ended by the blackout, Cde Gumbo said the VP Mujuru issue would be discussed next Wednesday.

“We were supposed to get a report from the Women’s League secretary (Cde Oppah Muchinguri) but she asked that she presents the report next week, so she will present the report and we will debate it,” he said. “This concerns the tour and the rallies.

“It was a normal Politburo and everyone was relaxed, but obviously people await the report of the Secretary of the Women’s League and this will open debate.”

On preparations for congress, Cde Gumbo said everything was on course.

“Basically, we were looking at the preparations of the congress,” he said. “Cde Simon Khaya Moyo gave his report and everything seems to be on course.

We also looked at the venue which is the City Sports Centre grounds.

“We also looked at the dates. The dates have been changed and our congress will start on the 2nd (of December) and end on the 7th of December. We looked at the theme of the congress and it is: “Accelerated Implementation of Zim-Asset”.

The congress had been initially set for December 9 to 14.

Cde Gumbo said the fundraising committee had so far raised over $3 million towards the hosting of the event out of the budgeted $8 million.

Zesa Holdings chief executive Engineer Josh Chifamba last night said the power blackout which affected the Zanu-PF headquarters was as a result of a technical fault.

“The problem was in the transmission network,” he said. “We lost lines from Alaska to Warrens, but we have managed to restore (power) by applying backfeeds.”