Tagwirei blundered, says Mutsvangwa

Business tycoon Kudakwashe Tagwirei’s attendance at a Zanu PF central committee meeting was a violation of the ruling party’s constitution and could complicate his quick elevation into the influential body, Zanu PF spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa has said.

 

Tagwirei, a former advisor to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, is being supported by Zanu PF’s Harare province to join the central committee amid resistance by a faction linked to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.

 

His co-option was delayed by what Zanu PF officials said were procedures that needed to be followed and Mutsvangwa said he needed to be cleared by the presidium consisting of Mnangagwa, Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi before he could attend meetings.

 

“The presidium was supposed to deliberate and endorse the appointment, but whether it was for lack of proper advice from the Harare provincial leadership or personal ambition, he assumed it would be a headlong stampede,” he said.

 

“It was procedurally wrong and the constitution had to be read out to him that ‘you are not yet a member and that you are coming into an institution with principles and guidelines’.”

 

Zanu PF’s central committee meeting in Harare last week was expected to endorse a recommendation by the Harare provincial executive for Tagwirei to be co-opted into the powerful party organ.

 

The central committee is Zanu PF’s principal organ and the highest decision making body outside congress.

 

Members of the central committee are elected from the party districts through the provincial structures with the latter recommending co-options when a member dies or is removed from the party.

 

Zanu PF’s provincial leaders across the country have chosen members or are in the process of choosing members for cooption into the central committee.

 

Mutsvangwa suggested that Tagwirei may have to start from the party’s grassroot structures or to go through the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.

 

“This kind of behaviour creates its own problems because it flouts the constitution, the party guiding principles and tenets,” he said.

 

“It shows that you are not ready to be part of it and you may have to go back and understand where you are.”

 

“He wanted to know the power he was assuming not the mode to exercise that power.

 

“Without that faux pas, the process would have taken its due course. It brings with it an element of bad faith or uninformed ambition.

 

“This ignorance or naivety indicates that his beginning should be the Chitepo School of Ideology.

 

“The tenets of the party are concretised in its constitution and if you are coming in you have to relate accordingly.”

 

Zanu PF Harare provincial chairman Goodwills Masimirembwa was not responding to calls yesterday.

 

Some members of his executive insisted in interviews with The Standard that Tagwirei’s way into the politburo had been cleared.

 

“Tagwirei is already a central committee member and it is irreversible,” a provincial member said.

 

“What happened last Wednesday was a mere setback, but we expect his co-option to be confirmed.”

 

Meanwhile, the Zanu PF Harare provincial executive will meet today where a fresh strategy to revive Tagwirei’s central committee bid will be amid indications that he will be elevated into the party’s top six in the province.

 

Once he is in the party’s top six, it would be easier for him to be coopted into the central committee, insiders said.

 

The meeting to be held Batanai Primary School in Epworth is ostensibly being organised to prepare for a municipal by-election, but sources said the central committee position would be top of the agenda.

 

“The plan is now to create a vacancy in to the Harare top six and appoint Tagwirei so that he can now be seconded to the CC,” the Zanu PF source said.

 

Masimirembwa and his team are said to be planning to fire George Chimhini from the executive and replace him with Tagwirei.

 

Chimhini is a close relative of Sports minister Anselem Sanyatwe, who is believed to be backing Chiwenga in the Zanu PF succession wars. He is the secretary for finance in the provincial structures and his position will be given to Tagwirei.

 

Tagwirei recently said he was not interested in succeeding Mnangagwa despite growing talk that he is being prepared to take over the presidency ahead of Chiwenga, who enjoys strong support from the security establishment and former fighters of the liberation war. Standard