Moses Ziyambi
In response to Operation Restore Legacy finding him in the wrong basket last year, former Gutu South Member of Parliament (MP) Dr Paul Chimedza says he has decided to take a sabbatical from politics for the purposes of deep self-introspection.
“I am still Zanu PF and will never be anything else. It’s unfortunate that I played the wrong politics at the wrong time but that does not make me any less Zanu PF than anybody else. My allegiance to the party is still as intact as it has always been,” said Dr Chimedza, the one-time Masvingo Provincial Affairs minister who governed for less than a month.
Along with other G40 leaders in the province; Dr Daniel Shumba, Jeppy Jaboon and Walter Mzembi, Chimedza was expelled from Zanu PF in the wake of the de-facto military coup that claimed the scalp of long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.
Unlike Mzembi and Shumba, Chimedza has been media shy ever since, only appearing in public briefly to give solidarity remarks at a memorial service for the late MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai in Harare in February.
He reluctantly talked to TellZim News this week, saying he had decided to retreat to his medical profession and managing his other businesses.
“I will not contest in the upcoming general election. I have decide to take a back seat and see where that will get me,” said Chimedza, dismissing rumours that he may contest in Gutu South as an independent.
He also rubbished talk that he may find his way into MDC Alliance, saying his heart was fully Zanu PF thus will never betray what the party stood for.
On the newly-formed and Ambrose Mutinhiri-led New Patriotic Front (NPF) being touted as a vehicle by which all G40s could stage a political comeback, Chimedza said he was unconvinced.
“I will work for Zanu PF while pushing to complete the many projects that remain unfinished in the constituency. I believe one can accomplish much more even without being a Member of Parliament,” Chimedza said.
After being appointed deputy minister of Health after the 2013 elections, Chimedza initiated some projects that include the electrification of schools, building of classroom blocks and plans for a solar-powered medical centre in Ward 2018.
Many of the projects, however, stalled after Chimedza was booted out of his job before being suspended from the party during the 2014 ‘Gamatox’ purges.
He staged a dramatic comeback when G40 enjoyed an increasing upper hand over Team Lacoste at the height of the brutal Zanu PF factional wars last year.
In October, he was appointed Minister
