HARARE – Zanu PF in Masvingo province has suspended two MPs from all party activities for allegedly fanning factionalism.
The suspensions of Gutu East MP Benjamin Ganyiwa and Chiredzi North lawmaker Roy Bhila are believed to be linked to Zanu PF’s leadership fight amid a push by loyalists of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his second and final term by two years to 2030, against constitutional limits.
The plan is being opposed even within Zanu PF as Mnangagwa’s opponents rally around his deputy, Constantino Chiwenga, who also opposes the manoeuvres to amend the constitution.
Zanu PF chairman for Masvingo Robson Mavhenyengwa said Ganyiwa, the party’s provincial secretary for finance, had held a “secret” meeting at his homestead attended by some party members from outside his constituency, and also without informing the party’s district and provincial leadership structures.
Bhila, who was abruptly removed as deputy industry and commerce minister by Mnangagwa in November 2023, also attended the meeting.
Ganyiwa is facing four charges, according to Mavhenyengwa.
The two lawmakers have been issued with prohibition orders to cease all party activities, he added.
Their matter has now been referred to the party’s disciplinary committee chaired by Oppah Muchinguri, the party’s national chairperson.
Should a decision be taken to expel them, the matter will go up to the politburo for confirmation, where Chiwenga and allies could potentially push back and widen the fissures.
“No-one is bigger than the party, the disciplinary process will be followed through, regardless of one’s position within the party,” Mavhenyengwa vowed.
Masvingo is the hotbed of Mnangagwa’s support and any splits among senior leaders would encourage the president’s opponents.
The suspensions come as Zanu PF’s Mashonaland West party recommended the expulsion of Blessed Geza, a central committee member and war veteran who last week declared that Mnagagwa “must go now” after accusing the 82-year-old Zanu PF leader of failing to lead and being “unfit to run this country.”
Mashonaland West chairman Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also the justice minister, also told a party meeting that he would ask the police commissioner Stephen Mutamba to arrest Geza.
Ziyambi said: “In the past, he murdered someone at his homestead and the case was not thoroughly investigated. If you murder someone the case does not just disappear, we’re going to tell Mutamba to investigate.”
The ructions within the party are increasingly mimicking events leading to a 2017 military coup which Chiwenga led before inviting Mnangagwa, who had fled into exile, to take the reins.
