A RECENTLY installed Midlands chief appears ready to pay back a favour by the state after he recently pledged to shepherd villagers to vote for President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the coming elections.
Chief Samuel Samambwa of Zhombe made a pledge before President Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga at Precabe Farm on the outskirts of Kwekwe.
He said his people must only vote for Mnangagwa, claiming they had voluntarily promised to do so.
“My people have pledged votes for President Mnangagwa, those who are here and those at their homes. I am President Mnangagwa’s first born child because I was the first chief he installed when he came into office,” Samambwa said.
“I am the first chief to be installed by President Mnangagwa under the new dispensation. Those who will follow after me are my younger brothers,” he said.
The chief hailed Chiwenga for toppling Mugabe late last year.
He said Chiwenga managed to stop Mugabe and restored order to the Samambwa chieftaincy.
“People were just hearing about Chiwenga; you (villagers) have physically met him today,” he said.
Chief Samambwa said Chiwenga was the only man who managed to stop Mugabe.
“For many years people tried to stop the train and failed,” he said of Mugabe’s rule before adding, “but there is only one person who managed to do that and that is Chiwenga. He is the only person who did that.”
He said the coup helped to resolve the Samambwa chieftaincy wrangle.
“We have been having internal conflicts on the Samambwa chieftaincy. We are all happy because someone managed to stop that train. Chiwenga you have managed to bring an end the ten year impasse,” said the elated chief.
Samambwa legitimacy is being contested by his elder brother David.
Last year, the Samambwa chieftaincy spilled into the courts with Willard Samambw filing an urgent chamber application at the High Court interdicting the Ministry of Local Government from swearing in a substantive heir before an enquiry.
Sony, the eldest son of the late Peter Mawundi Samambwa, claimed to be the heir to his father’s throne.
At one point Samuel was installed by former President Robert Mugabe as a substantive chief.
The decision was reversed after the clan launched a court case on the matter to reverse the decision.
