. . . plot to oust him from Zaka DCC’s chair thickens
Beverly Bizeki
MASVINGO – While many people often celebrate the success of their kinsmen and feel sad when bad things happen, the story is different for the Zaka South legislator Clemence Chiduwa whom people in Zaka and Masvingo are celebrating his sudden fall from grace after President Emmerson Mnangagwa dropped him from his current cabinet.
Chiduwa who is former deputy minister for Finance and Economic Development in the previous government is the only one from Masvingo province who was disappointed as seven other ministers were re-appointed by Mnangagwa when he formed his government a fortnight ago.
Impeccable sources in Zanu PF said there was a number of issues that resulted in him being sidelined like being boastful, selfishness, nepotism, and self-praise which is said to have irked some top Zanu PF officials.
Zanu PF councilors at Zaka Rural District Council (RDC) who spoke to TellZim News on condition of anonymity for fear of victimization said Chiduwa has no one but himself to blame for his downfall.
“Chiduwa has no one to blame but himself – he influenced local leadership to appoint his wife councilor through the quota system. After that he again influenced other councilors to vote for her to become council chair. He is that kind of a leader who wants to take everything home,” the councilor said.
“Chiduwa failed to acknowledge the party and government programs in the district. He said all the programs that were funded by the government was his doing to the extent that he told people that he was responsible for the disbursement of devolution funds as deputy minister of finance,” added the councilor.
Another top Zanu PF official said Chiduwa’s biggest error was to try and establish his own center of power and failure to campaign for Mnangagwa in his constituency.
“Literally he (Chiduwa) was creating own centre of power and that is the biggest mistake one should never make in Zanu PF because we only have one centre of power. If you go to his constituency today, he is more popular than President Mnangagwa. I also think that he made a serious blunder when he influenced the appointment of his wife as councilor; he lost popularity in the district because of that because there were more deserving women who have been loyal to the party for too long.
“For that reason, both the district and provincial leadership no longer want him as DCC chairperson and it won’t be a surprise if he fails to complete his term as chairperson,” said the source.
When contacted for comment, Chiduwa dropped the call after the reporter introduced self and asked for his opinion on why he could have been dropped from cabinet and further attempts yielded nothing as he was not picking up calls.
Further attempts to get comment from him the following day were again futile as his mobile phone went unanswered.
Chiduwa, who is also the Zanu PF DCC chairperson for Zaka district, is said to have used his powerful positions of deputy minister, MP and DCC chairperson to influence the appointment of his wife into council through the women quota.
This did not go down well with the people of Zaka, and sources in Zanu PF said the party is already plotting to oust him.
Another source said Chiduwa was paying the price for being disrespectful and undermining the party through campaigning for himself ahead of the president in the just ended elections.
However, another Zanu PF provincial member said it was too early to conclude that Chiduwa had been dumped, saying the President could have something in store for him.
“It’s too early to conclude, the president is still appointing and we should wait. The President could have something better for him, let’s wait a bit and see,” said the member
Chiduwa’s downfall came as a surprise just like his rise in 2019 when he was appointed deputy minister barely two months after his election in a by election following the death of Castain Gumbwanda who was MP for the then Zaka East.
In 2018 Chiduwa had failed to contest in the primaries after he was disqualified for being a newbie in the party together with Talent Chivange who was disqualified for his alleged links to the G40 faction.
After the elections, Chiduwa is alleged to have used his links to get admitted into Zanu PF and subsequently contested and won the by-election. He also got co-opted in the Zanu PF provincial executive the same year.
