Harare – Zanu PF has expelled Central Committee member and war veteran Blessed Geza with immediate effect, the party’s secretary for legal affairs, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, announced. The decision follows internal party processes, marking a significant development amidst ongoing tensions surrounding President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s future leadership.
The expulsion comes just three days after a group of war veterans, led by Geza, publicly called on President Mnangagwa to step down, further escalating internal divisions within the ruling party.
Last month, the ruling party’s Mashonaland West Province unanimously recommended Geza’s expulsion from the party, while the party’s War Veterans League also denounced him for attacking the party’s leadership.
Speaking from an undisclosed location in a video released on Sunday night, the spokesman for the group, Knox Chivero, claimed that Mnangagwa had sent death squads to hunt them down with instructions to kill.
Chivero said the decision on the national shutdown would not be rushed, using a Shona idiom which literally means “running is not arriving.” He stated: “Let me assure you that the liberating signal from Cde Geza is coming, very soon.”
“As you will appreciate, this is a mammoth task because this is a people’s project, it’s not an individual’s project. Organisation and sufficient managerial competence to manage the public is essential. It means the planning and the execution and the management of the aftermath must be very meticulous so that we have the best results at minimal costs.”
He insisted that the war veterans, who accuse Mnangagwa of economic mismanagement and seeking to build a dynasty, did not want any bloodshed. “A good soldier, a good commander is one who wins the war with minimal loss but the best commander is one who wins a war without firing a bullet. This is precisely the philosophy of managing mass organisations and mass demonstrations whilst you’re in the belly of the beast which has deployed its dogs of war, hit squads and ferret teams specially trained in Belarus to hit, not to arrest,” Chivero said.
He claimed the hitmen sent to hunt them down also been secretly embedded in the ranks of regular police units like detectives from law and order and homicide. He added: “So you will appreciate what we are planning against and what we are fighting against. We are fighting against a vicious enemy who has no respect for human beings.”
“Cde Geza was actually followed by 10 different units or assassins to shoot at first sight without the option of arrest and giving the reason that ‘he resisted arrest that’s why we shot him’.”
Mnangagwa Calls for Unity Amidst Factionalism
Meanwhile, President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday called Zanu PF members to order amid internal divisions and factionalism in the ruling party. Zanu-PF is battling internal conflicts, with two factions at loggerheads over the extension of Mnangagwa’s reign beyond the constitutionally stipulated two terms.
Speaking at an Ordinary Session of the Politburo meeting at the Zanu PF headquarters, Mnangagwa warned against factionalism and narratives that threaten to undermine the party’s ethos.
“Meanwhile, unfortunate and misplaced narratives that seek to distort facts, stoke division and discord should never be given a footing in our body politic. True cadres of the party are clear on the correct line of our revolution, our party history, our values and our traditions,” Mnangagwa stated.
“Do not be clouded or led by wolves in sheep’s clothing abusing our rich liberation heritage for their own divisive ends. Loyal Zanu PF members by day and ZANU PF by night not merely when its convenient but you must remain loyal day or night. Sleep or awake, not when it is convenient.”
“At no time should we as the leadership question you about your sense of commitment, your sense of duty and loyalty. Any efforts of this nature must never find space in our Party and progressive political culture. We must expose and reject those with tendencies of political grandstanding, including their accessories,” said Mnangagwa.
Despite Mnangagwa’s public declaration that he will not seek re-election after the expiry of his constitutionally mandated two terms, a faction supporting him is pushing for him to rule until 2030. Opposition Members of Parliament have been roped into the plan to push for the amendment of the constitution to pave the way for the extension of Mnangagwa’s rule. Some cabinet ministers, such as Daniel Garwe and Jenfan Muswere, have been vocal in support of the extension of Mnangagwa’s tenure.
This has caused factional strife within Zanu PF, with some war veterans, led by the party’s Central Committee member and war vet Blessed Geza, calling on Mnangagwa to resign.
Added Mnangagwa, “Over and above this, defending our Party and promoting its ideals remains a moral imperative and a practical necessity. All structures of the Party must, therefore, be vigilant and stand firm in safeguarding our revolutionary foregrounding.”
“This is more so given that the neo-colonial agenda is focusing on corrupting as well as consuming the minds and hearts of our people,” he said.
