SENIOR Zanu PF officials met in Harare on Tuesday in a bid to defuse growing tensions over the race for the post of Vice President which fell vacant following the death of Joseph Msika in August.
Zanu PF chairmen from the three Matabeleland provinces were summoned to Harare after they ALL missed a deadline to submit the names of their nominees.
Bulawayo, Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North had been asked to nominate a candidate each, with the party’s secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa saying the process must be "exhaustible, transparent and candid to enable a popular candidate to emerge."
The Matabeleland provinces were asked to make the nominations in the spirit of a 1987 Unity Accord between President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU and the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo’s ZAPU which carried a “gentlemen’s agreement” that one of the two Vice Presidents should be ex-ZAPU.
Just weeks ago, the nomination had looked a formality with Zanu PF national chairman John Nkomo seen as a shoe-in. But after he was nominated by Bulawayo province, Matabeleland North and South refused to fall into line.
Matabeleland South is believed to be backing former Insiza MP Naison Khutswhekhaya Ndlovu, while Matabeleland North has played its cards close to the chest.
Nkomo has refused to publicly comment on his nomination, but that has not stopped his rivals from staking a claim to the job. Bulawayo governor Cain Mathema, General Ambrose Mutinhiri and Ndlovu – all former ZAPU figures before the Unity Accord – have publicly lobbied for nomination.
Mutasa said before Tuesday’s meeting: “The three provinces have not responded to our request. We were hoping that the people from Matabeleland were managing the deadline.
"They have their own problems and we do not want to rush them."
Observers say the lack of consensus is proof of the lack of a clear leader of the ex-ZAPU in Zanu PF, with most officials having been rejected by voters in Matabeleland and now relying on Mugabe’s patronage.
For Nkomo, the snub is a major blow, and his supporters will wonder how much damage he suffered from allegations of sexual abuse brought by a Bulawayo man. Nkomo has been quized by police, but has not been charged. He denies the allegations.