The Sunday Mail
Bulawayo Bureau
SOME Zanu-PF members who were expelled or suspended will have the rulings overturned if provinces did not follow proper procedures in instituting disciplinary action, Vice-President Phelekezela Mphoko has said.
VP Mphoko also said the the raft of votes of no confidence were not the National Disciplinary Committee’s baby.
In an interview on Friday, VP Mphoko – who chairs the newly-established National Appeals and Review Committee – said they would review all cases starting this week, hinting some members could be readmitted if it was proven they had no case to answer.
Until recently, VP Mphoko chaired the National Disciplinary Committee, which is now headed by party Secretary for Legal Affairs Cde Patrick Chinamasa.
VP Mphoko said, “A review of cases will be done and according to the situation we will see if you have a case to answer or not, then we will look into it. Many people were fired by their own provinces so it is either the committee upholds or overrides the decisions that were made at that time.”
VP Mphoko said the National Disciplinary Committee took its cue from provinces and not vice versa.
“There is a mistake that has happened. People are saying the disciplinary committee fired people, no, there is nothing like that. The province where you come from, just like when you die, is the one that requests for your (hero) status.
“They tell us that this person belongs to us and they tell us your story. Those votes of no confidence that were passed did not come from us at the top in the National Disciplinary Committee, but from the provinces that the people come from.
“We are not part of this at all. It is just like in court, judges do to not go around looking for crimes that people commit, no,” he said.
Zanu-PF last week unveiled the composition of the National Appeals and Review Committee who will consider appeals from people aggrieved by their suspension/expulsion from the party.
With VP Mphoko on the committee are 10 Central Committee members – one from each province.
After a Zanu-PF Politburo meeting in Harare last week, party National Spokesperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said aggrieved cadres were free to appeal.
Meanwhile, in Bulawayo, five of the 19 Zanu-PF members suspended for allegedly attending a war veterans meeting addressed by the expelled Mr Jabulani Sibanda in March have been absolved after it was found they were not at the gathering.
Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial chairman Cde Dennis Ndlovu said, “We have cleared most of the cases where we have told them one by one the verdict after their hearings. There are five who were acquitted or absolved of the charges after it was found that they did not attend the meeting.”
The are provincial members Cdes Mlungisi Moyo, Kevin Mudzidziwa, Garikai Zonde and Caleb Sengu; and a member of the party’s National Consultative Assembly, Cde Fideliah Maphosa.
Cde Ndlovu said the cases of senior members had been forwarded to the National Disciplinary Committee for consideration.
The seniors include NCA members Senator Angeline Masuku, Cdes Molly Mpofu (Bulawayo Liberation War Veterans Association commissar), Oppah Ncube and Eliphas Tshuma.
Others who were suspended include Cdes Christopher Sibanda, Charles Ndlovu, Rejoice Sibanda, Rose Kandiero, Miriam Moyo, Siwinile Ncube, Victor Mpofu, Douglas Gangaidze, Shorai Sende and Blackwell Bulukutu.
