Staff Reporter

More details concerning the aborted Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) Bulawayo meeting have emerged and the outgoing chairperson Rashid Mahiya has been accused of hiring thugs to disrupt the meeting.

A source who spoke to this publication revealed that Mahiya hired about 20 drunk thugs to disrupt a CiZC elective meeting at Rainbow Towers in Bulawayo last week after realising that his preferred horse, former Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union (ZCTU) Peter Gift Mutasa, was playing second fiddle to Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET) executive director Samuel Wadzai Mangoma.

“Contrary to what was reported that Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) members disrupted the CiZC meeting last week, the truth is that Mahiya hired some thugs to violently disrupt the meeting after realising that his preferred candidate for the chairmanship, Mutasa, was likely to lose against Wadzai Mangoma. Mahiya and CiZC Director Blessing Vava are doing everything in their power to frustrate the candidature of Wadzai Mangoma as they are supporting Mutasa,” said the source.

According to the source, efforts by Wadzai Mangoma and his camp to compel Mahiya to reconvene the meeting after the disruption were futile as Mahiya declared that no election would be conducted after the violent fracas.

The source said that Mahiya and Vava has clandestinely set a date for the next elective meeting and they were in the process of manipulating the voters roll, removing affiliates that are believed to be supporting Mangoma from the list.

“The duo of Mahiya and Vava has initially set 24 December 2021 as the next date for the elective meeting. They knew that most of the eligible voters will be enjoy the holiday and they will not attend the crucial meeting. This date has not been formally communicated to other members. They want to strategically bar some members from attending the meeting so as to increase Mutasa’s chances of winning the chairmanship. Currently, the duo is manipulating the voters roll, removing all affiliates opposed to them from the voters roll,” added the source.

The source further said that the majority of members are contesting the new date set by Mahiya and have vowed to disrupt any CiZC gathering that will be conducted on the said date. The majority members are frustrated by Mahiya’s biased interference in the electoral process and they have since vowed to confront him during the next meeting.

Efforts to get a comment from Mahiya and Vava were futile as their mobile phones were not reachable.