The Sunday News
Vincent Gono
RESIGNED former Zanu-PF Matabeleland South secretary for lands Cde Jabulani Phetshu Sibanda says contrary to reports linking him to Zimbabwe People First (ZPF) , he currently belongs to no political party.
Cde Phetshu resigned from the ruling party and also from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association while serving his suspension following allegations he was working hand in glove with former Vice-President Dr Joice Mujuru to topple President Mugabe from power.
In an emotive interview characterised by sobs, Cde Phetshu dismissed the allegations as part of a political hoax saying there was no time in his life where he worked, let alone had a meeting with Dr Mujuru to discuss Zanu-PF power politics with the motive to oust President Mugabe from office.
He said there was a clique of a few individuals in Insiza District, his home area who felt threatened by his rising political star and sought to taint his standing using the Mujuru camp as a scapegoat. Cde Phetshu advised that if the party was not careful and let its membership decimated without investigated proof of wrongdoing it was going to be its own enemy.
Sunday News Features Editor, Vincent Gono (VG) spoke to Cde Jabulani Phetshu-Sibanda (JPS) and below are excerpts of the interview:
VG: Cde Phetshu can you tell us your brief political history and how you became a member of Zanu-PF?
JPS: I am a Zipra trained cadre of the armed struggle. I was trained under Zapu and we had our supreme leader Cde Joshua Nkomo. I was Zapu through and through and joined Zanu-PF in 1987 when Zapu merged with Zanu after the signing of the Unity Accord.
So I have been in Zanu-PF for 29 years. Together with other cadres we played a leading role in the Land Reform Programme in Matabeleland South that sought to fairly redistribute the land that we fought for that was still in the hands of a few white farmers.
I therefore have no regrets whatsoever in belonging to Zanu-PF. In fact I have nothing against the leadership of the party, only that there are a few individuals down the power corridors who are just greedy and power hungry. I respect the leadership of President Mugabe and his policy as well as his courage. The way he addressed the land question, his policies on education, indigenisation and empowerment which I am a strong disciple of as well as the empowerment of women are second to none in Africa. The man just has a gift of brilliance that no one can take away from him.
VG: What made you resign from Zanu-PF and which party are you with now?
JPS: The decision to leave Zanu-PF was reached at painfully. As I have said before, I have virtually nothing against the leadership of the party. There are not more than three individuals in Insiza who have been tormenting me, one is a senior member and another is a war veteran. I will not mention names. These individuals realised how popular I was becoming in the district and thought I was threatening their positions.
I will not drag the party provincial co-ordinating committee into this, they are squarely innocent. They were fed with lies. The not more than three individuals went on a spirited mud smearing campaign trail to make sure they destroy my political career and I think wherever they are they are celebrating.
I was serving a suspension that was almost about to end in December but I decided well, I have played my part in Zanu-PF, why should I be tormented and humiliated like this, worse over allegations that I do not know. On the second part of your question, let me put the record straight because I know there are people who are going around saying I now belong to ZPF.
That is a lie. Yes, I resigned from Zanu-PF but that does not automatically qualify me to be a member of ZPF. The same people who led a campaign that saw me being suspended are peddling the lies, they are looking at ways to vindicate themselves but I will not let them do so by joining ZPF when there was no relationship prior to my suspension.
I was donated to Mai Mujuru by the same individuals who are out to destroy me but I have refused. They look determined to force me to belong there though. Let me therefore state it boldly and now that I do not belong to any political party at least for now. I am not a card carrying member of any party, either Zapu, ZPF or any of the MDCs. Anyone who claims that I am a member of a certain political party after my resignation from Zanu-PF should be awoken from a scary nightmare. When the time comes I will join a party of my choice and I will not do so clandestinely.
VG: Are there any chances of you joining the revived Zapu since you once belonged there?
JPS: I believe in the Unity Accord that was authored by President Mugabe and the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo. Let’s not disturb it, let’s live in harmony irrespective of our history of origin, tribe or any other discriminatory ways that may be employed.
VG: You seem to be complaining so much over what you call “unfair treatment” instigated on your person by some nameless comrades in the party who felt threatened by your popularity. What exactly is your bone of contention, did they stop you from assuming a deserved position?
JPS: The issue was when there were Central Committee elections in the district that were presided over by Senator Tambudzani Mohadi. There were six of us, Cdes Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu, Spare Sithole, Jerry Langa, Esau Moyo, Patrick Hove and myself. Jerry Langa and myself won those elections and it is on record. The results were announced but three to four days down the line I was told I was disqualified. My position was to be given to Cde Ndlovu but I was not furnished with any reasons. Langa’s position was also given to Hove.
Immediately after my disqualification I was suspended from the party. So I sit down and ask myself whether I committed a sin by standing and winning the elections. I have nothing against Cde Ndlovu, he is an elder who deserves respect and recognition but at least I think I deserved to be given the reasons. I felt like the party was growing insensitive to the members’ feelings. What pains me is that we were now ordered to go and welcome Cde Hove who we defeated in elections, and after that he sits on the top table while sympathetic women would give me “amazambia” for me to sit in the sun. It’s actually an insult to me. I respect him, we went to the same war but he was Zanla and I was Zipra. Naturally you start thinking that the discrimination is because he is Zanla and I am Zipra (former).
VG: You have been fingered in land scams in Insiza with Cde Andrew Langa. How true are the allegations?
JPS: That was still part of the campaign to make sure they nail us in our political coffins for good. Like I said, I was one of the champions of the land reform in the province. I wouldn’t be seen doing the opposite of what we advocated for in the first place. If I was doing that then that was a crime and in Zimbabwe crimes are reported to the police and not to the media. I was therefore supposed to be reported and investigations carried out. I was not going to be as free as I am today.
VG: There are allegations that people who are expelled or who resign from Zanu-PF always have whatever they gained taken away by the party and youths. Did you face the same problem?
JPS: Wherever those allegations are coming from that is not true. Those are allegations coming from other political parties seeking to portray Zanu-PF as cruel and heartless. There is nothing like that. I benefited yes, I have land but no one has come to me saying all those things. I still have everything and I think it’s just the same with all other party members who have either been expelled or resigned. Unless if the so called properties would have been amassed using unscrupulous and illegal means. Such things as land were not given to Zanu-PF supporters only but to any willing Zimbabwean.
Those that are spreading such lies seek to taint Zanu-PF and make it look like it is personalising land which is not it. I should also tell you that I have written a number of proposals for any party that will seek to have me as their member. The party that I will join should recognise the irreversibility of the land reform, it should give precedence to devolution of power as well as recognise the role played by Zanu and Zapu and their leaders during the country’s war of liberation among other proposals.
