Tongai Matutu |
…former MDC heavies
bash Chamisa at first Zanu PF meeting
Moses
Ziyambi
Former MDC Alliance
members who recently defected to the ruling Zanu PF party last week took turns
to attack their former leader Nelson Chamisa whom they accused of being
ignorant and delusional, TellZim can report.
Speaking at a Zanu PF
Masvingo provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting held in the city
recently, former Masvingo Urban Member of Parliament (MP) Tongai Matutu and
former Chitungwiza Senator James Makore attacked their former leader for
pursuing ‘unhelpful politics’.
The gathering was
attended by many senior Zanu PF leaders including politburo member Chris
Mutsvangwa and Masvingo provincial chairperson Ezra Chadzamira.
“When (late MDC
president Morgan) Tsvangirai was alive, we would discuss and make the
constitution together but Chamisa is ignorant and cannot build the country.
Zanu PF is made up of revolutionaries, not missionaries,” charged Matutu in his
address to the gathering.
He said he had nothing
but praise for Zanu PF and its leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa whom he said
had given him a lifeline.
“We do not pay the
people from the opposition to come and join us. Though people mocked us, we
remained resolute. I can praise Zanu PF from sunrise to sundown. We are aware
of what we propagate for. We thank the President for welcoming us back to Zanu
PF. Today is my first day at a Zanu PF meeting. People spread rumours that I was
once a CIO, which is wrong,” said Matutu.
In his own remarks,
Makore, a war veteran who worked as one of Tsvangirai’s closest aides during
the unity government between 2009 and 2013, accused Chamisa of being discriminatory
against older members of the party.
“If you don’t want old
people, then what do you want? We left MDC because we could not follow the rule
of a child who is ignorant and is not capable of leading. We thank you for
upholding the party even in our absence. Zanu PF is an ocean, it will never
dry. I stand for my rights and our constitution allows us to make choices and
that’s why I joined Zanu PF without fear of criticism,” said Makore.
Another former party
member Dr Willian Zivenge mocked Chamisa’s ice of creating spaghetti roads
across the country.
“You dream of spaghetti
roads; you are a food lover. The President, on the other hand, encouraged the
Pfumvudza programme and it was a success,” said Zivenge.
In his remarks to
welcome the former opposition members, Mutsvangwa said they will be treated
like other Zanu PF members.
“Masvingo is the heart
of Zanu PF. We are happy with Matutu and Makore who are back in the party.
Welcome back, you are the same as anyone else in the party, says the President. Whenever Masvingo stands, nothing is impossible, I
am proud of Masvingo province,” said Mutsvangwa.