Former ZANU PF Central Committee member and independent candidate for Mwenezi West, Tafadzwa Masvayamwando Shumba, has harshly criticized the ruling party, describing it as a harmful entity that has caused widespread suffering.
Speaking at the funeral of his mother, Clara Shumba, in Rutenga last week, Shumba expressed his discontent, as reported by *The Mirror*. Clara Shumba, who was the wife of the late Mwenezi West legislator Isaac Shumba, was honored as a provincial war hero.
Tafadzwa, once a member of ZANU PF’s National Consultative Assembly, opted to run as an independent candidate after alleged vote manipulation by Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ) and state security operatives during the party’s contentious primary elections leading up to the 2023 national elections. Priscilla Zindari-Moyo, the spouse of Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) director Isaac Moyo, was declared the winner of those primaries.
Before the August 2023 elections, Tafadzwa’s Toyota GD6 was reportedly carjacked at gunpoint and set ablaze near Chirindi Township following his challenge to Moyo’s candidacy. He shared with mourners that critical family documents were lost in the incident, and his mother’s health deteriorated after law enforcement ended their investigation without identifying any suspects. He remarked:
“ZANU PF is wicked. Everyone knows who torched the car, but they remain free. I want those in the President’s office to listen and report the truth.
ZANU PF has orphaned us. My father, my mother, and I dedicated ourselves to that party, and this is the result. I regret the day my father entered politics.”
Shumba further explained that his mother endured hardships during the liberation struggle, fleeing soldiers after being accused of aiding freedom fighters.
Despite being recognized as a provincial war hero, he noted, many party members did not attend her funeral due to their knowledge of past injustices. He added, “Many are suffering because of ZANU PF.”
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However, ZANU PF’s Masvingo provincial chairperson, Rabson Mavhenyengwa, refuted Shumba’s claims, noting that senior party members, including Politburo deputy secretary Otilia Maluleke and Matabeleland South senator Tambudzani Mohadi, attended the funeral but were not given a chance to speak.
Mavhenyengwa also claimed that Shumba, now an opposition figure, is free to say anything to damage the party’s reputation. He further alleged that some individuals chose not to attend the funeral due to threats from Tafadzwa.
The report also touches on ZANU PF’s alleged targeting of former members who ran as independents in Masvingo, which some believe is linked to the suspicious death of Gutu West independent candidate Christopher Mutonhori Rwodzi. Rwodzi died in a mysterious car crash along the Chivhu-Mpandawana highway just weeks before the elections.
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