The Sunday Mail
The Zanu-PF Mashonaland West Provincial Youth League executive yesterday suspended its chair, Cde Vengai Musengi, on allegations of misusing party funds — though the youth leader immediately dismissed the decision as unconstitutional.
Cde Musengi and his deputy, Cde Joseph Nyariri, were suspended after the executive met in Chinhoyi and agreed with the main provincial committee led by Cde Temba Mliswa that the two were also behind leaking a classified letter to the media.
The executive immediately co-opted Cdes Dominic Muza and Malvin Kanhamo as substantive chair and deputy, respectively.
However, there were indications from Politburo members in the province that the youths did not form a quorum until they “co-opted” new executives and thus the whole procedure breached Zanu-PF’s constitution.
Cde Musengi also said the meeting did not constitute a quorum.
He said Cde Mliswa hastily organised the “improperly constituted” gathering to bar him from briefing President Mugabe on the goings-on in Mashonaland West when the First Secretary returns from his State visit to China.
Describing the suspension as “null and void”, Cde Musengi vowed to press on with exposing alleged wrongs in how the province was being run.
Last week, Cde Musengi said he was being victimised for supporting First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe’s nomination to the post of Women’s League Chair after the main provincial executive suspended him a fortnight ago.
But in a statement last night, Zanu-PF Mashonaland West youth spokesperson Cde Mernard Waneke said yesterday’s meeting constituted a quorum.
He said Cde Musengi had wrongly accused the province of not supporting Amai Mugabe, adding that the meeting had endorsed President Mugabe as Zanu-PF Life President and First Secretary. “Contrary to media reports, please be advised that at a meeting of the Mashonaland West Provincial Youth League Executive Committee, herein referred to as ‘the committee’, convened on Saturday 30th August 2014 at the Zanu-PF office in Chinhoyi which lasted close to six hours, the committee, constituting a quorum of twenty-two (22) members of the thirty-seven (37) it composes; two (2) having been ascended to National and the other one (1) being Cde Musengi, resolved the following: “To uphold the suspension of the Provincial Youth League Chairperson, Cde V. Musengi pending the outcome of his disciplinary hearing with the realisation that one is innocent until proven guilty.”
Cde Musengi said the suspension was calculated to bar him from briefing President Mugabe.
“All this is the work of Temba Mliswa. He does not want us to meet the President because we want to brief him on the problems affecting the party in the province. The meeting was unconstitutional because out of 36 youth league executive members from the province, only 15 attended, yet a quorum should be made up of 22 people. The other people who attended are not executive members from the province and some of them are the same people who were co-opted into positions to make the quorum.”
Efforts to get a comment from Cde Mliswa were fruitless last night. The recent Youth and Women’s League conferences were reportedly blighted by infighting pertaining to Amai Mugabe’s pending ascension to ruling party office. In Harare, the provincial youth chair, Cde Godwin Gomwe, has said senior party officials are tearing Zanu-PF apart by opposing Amai Mugabe’s ascendency.
He named Politburo members Cde Tendai Savanhu, national Secretary for Administration Cde Didymus Mutasa, Central Committee member Cde Noah Mangondo and provincial chairman Cde Amos Midzi as using money to create confusion in the party.
The fallout has also resulted in intra-party violence, which has been reported to the police though it could not be ascertained by last night if any arrests had been m ade yet.
