Efforts to Oust Mary Mliswa-Chikoka Underway

by Zimtimes Correspondent

There are concerted efforts underway to remove Zanu PF’s Mashonaland West provincial chairperson, Mary Mliswa-Chikoka, sources have revealed. A petition calling for a vote of no-confidence against Mliswa-Chikoka is reportedly circulating among the party’s provincial executive committee (PEC) members in the region.

According to the sources, 27 out of the 59 PEC members have already signed the petition. The scheme was allegedly hatched some time ago, but was recently revived when the provincial secretary for administration, Misheck Nyarubero, wrote a letter criticizing Mliswa-Chikoka for co-opting members into the executive without proper consultations.

“It was after this that PEC members present in the new meeting started complaining about the unilateral appointments that the provincial chairperson Cde M Mliswa had made. PEC members started leaving the meeting venue complaining about the main provincial co-options being null and void,” Nyarubero wrote in a letter to the party’s commissariat department.

This prompted Zanu PF’s political commissar, Munyaradzi Machacha, to visit the province last week, where he rectified the issue by rescinding the co-options. Nyarubero later said there was no need for the petition since Mliswa-Chikoka’s mistakes had been corrected.

However, Zanu PF provincial spokesperson, Nigel Murambiwa, acknowledged that there were talks of a petition against Mliswa-Chikoka being fronted by some party members within the province. “We urge all to be calm and shun divisions within party structures. Everything is going on well in our province, but you know, this is politics, anything is possible,” Murambiwa said.

Mliswa-Chikoka, who is the first and only female Zanu PF provincial chairperson, said she had heard about the petition but would not lose sleep over it, as it was a “non-event.” She added that she was concentrating on party restructuring activities and did not want to focus on things that did not promote unity within the party.

Another Zanu PF senior member in the province, who preferred to remain anonymous, claimed that some politburo members were allegedly pushing for Mliswa-Chikoka’s ouster. “It’s being instigated by some in the politburo, but unfortunately, it will not be supported by most members in the province. People cannot just wake up and say we no longer want the chairperson,” the member said.

Some sources also suggested that tribalism might be a factor, as Mliswa-Chikoka is regarded as being from the Midlands province. “It boils down to tribalism. It’s to do with succession,” one member said.

However, others view Mliswa-Chikoka as a “lioness of Mashonaland West” from her Shumba totem, while some consider her too junior in the party to control the problematic province, referring to her as “a little girl.”