Mugabe bids to lure MDC mayor to Zanu PF

Mugabe bids to lure MDC mayor to Zanu PF

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By Staff Reporter

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has said Chitungwiza mayor Misheck Shoko must be persuaded to join Zanu PF or be dismissed from office.

Sources revealed Monday that Mugabe said Shoko -- a war veteran who is under siege from the government for failing to "deliver" -- must be enticed to ditch the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) if he is to survive an imminent chop.

Shoko has already been given two ultimatums by Local Government Minister Ignatious Chombo which have both expired without action being taken.

Last year, Chombo fired Harare's MDC mayor Elias Mudzuri, apparently on the orders of Mugabe. Mudzuri was accused of corruption before his ouster. His number two, Sekesai Makwavarara, deserted the MDC for Zanu PF. She is now heading a government-appointed commission running the affairs of Harare.

Government sources told New Zimbabwe.com that Vice President Joice Mujuru had been assigned with the task of luring Shoko to the ruling party.

"Mugabe said Shoko must be an easy target to convert as a war veteran. The task to do so was given to Mujuru. Zanu PF believes the current squabbling in the MDC should make the job easy. If Shoko does not co-operate, only an act of God would spare him the chop," said the source.

In an interview Monday, Shoko confirmed that he had been recently invited to meet Mujuru, but had declined.

"Recently there was an invitation for me to attend a Mujuru meeting. I will not go. Maybe they think I can join Zanu PF, but I wont," he said.

Last year, Zanu PF successfully won to its side MDC Mabvuku councillor Sekesai Makwavarara who was Mudzuri’s deputy.

Tagged in Zanu PF structures and awarded with a farm in Mashonaland West, Makwavarara is the chairperson of the commission running the affairs of Harare.

Sources said it was baffling for Zanu PF members to invite an MDC member to a meeting especially considering the hostility and threats the government has issued against opposition run councils.

Recently Shoko was arrested for allegedly calling for the violent ouster of Mugabe. So far he has been issued with deadlines to improve the affairs of Chitungwiza characterised by uncollected refuse, water shortages and blocked sewerage pipes.

He has also been stripped of his powers, with a Mugabe loyalist overseeing the day to day running of Chitungwiza council.

The mayor blames his council’s failures on overall failure by the government to pay Chitungwiza a $28 billion debt, lack of fuel to collect refuse and foreign currency to replace old sewer pumps.
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