Political Reporter
Sibangilizwe Nkomo, son of the late nationalist and Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, has been accused by fellow ZAPU members of employing dirty tactics in a bid to scare away rivals ahead of that party’s elective congress.
A source who spoke to this publication, said ZAPU’s elective congress roars into life today in Bulawayo and a number of party members were eyeing the presidential throne left vacant by the death of Dumiso Dabengwa in 2019.
“We are going to have our elective congress tomorrow (today) in Bulawayo to elect the party president. There is fierce competition for the presidency among senior members and some have resorted to consulting sangomas in a bid to win the presidency,” said the source.
According to the source, Nkomo visited a sangoma in Kezi and was given charms to use during the congress. The sangoma is believed to have told Nkomo that during the congress, he should bath using the charms and this will see some of the presidential contestants withdrawing from the race leaving him to be the sole candidate.
“Last week, Nkomo visited a sangoma in Kezi seeking her blessings ahead of the congress. He was given some charms to use so that other presidential hopefuls will voluntarily withdraw from the race,” said the source.
The source added that Nkomo was not sitting on his laurels only depending on the words of the sangoma, but was also splashing money to entice delegates to vote for him. The source said that Nkomo was clandestinely dishing out some money to party members, imploring them to vote for him during the congress.
According to the source, Nkomo has been intimidating fellow contestants claiming that his father, the late Dr Nkomo, told him before his death that he should one day revive ZAPU. The source added that Nkomo was going around telling party members that he was the rightful heir to the ZAPU presidency as he is the current custodian of Dr Nkomo’s rod (tsvimbo).
About 2000 delegates are expected to attend ZAPU congress that will commence today and end on the 30th of this month. Nkomo, party secretary general Strike Mkandla, Mark Mbayiwa, Matthew Sibanda, Bernard Magugu and UK based Sithembiso Mpofu, are expected to battle it out for the party presidency.
