VICE PRESIDENT Phelekezela Mphoko came face to face with the ugly side of factionalism when he read his speech before empty chairs after most senior party officials from the province boycotted a Zanu PF fund raising dinner in Victoria Falls.
The Matabeleland North provincial fund raising dinner was supposed to raise $50, 000 towards the party’s 16th annual National Peoples Conference to be held next month in Masvingo.
The dinner tables at Elephant Hills Hotel were priced at $20, 000 for the platinum category, $15, 000 for gold, $10, 000 and $5, 000 for bronze and silver respectively.
Even the host Provincial Resident Minister Cain Mathema did not show up at the dinner.Mphoko was only later joined by Small to Medium Enterprises Minister Sithembiso Nyoni.
Sources told Newzimbabwe that only a handful of people from the local tourism industry under the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) attended the Friday event.
Senior Zanu PF officials who were expected to attend but did not turn up are Macro Economic Planning Minister Obert Mpofu, Jonathan Moyo (Higher Education Minister), Thokozile Mathuthu (Information deputy minister) and Jacob Mudenda (Speaker of Parliament).
The party’s provincial fund raising committee chairperson Stars Mathe was not picking her mobile phone at the weekend. Mathe has been quoted in the state media saying that she hoped the province would meet the target.
A local weekly reported Friday that Mphoko had complained during the last politburo meeting to President Robert Mugabe that some ministers were only reporting to his colleague Emmerson Mnangagwa and not to him.
“After Mphoko complained Obert Mpofu said sometimes the problem is that some ministers will be trying to avoid being roped into factional things, therefore, they stay away from reporting,” reported The Zimbabwe Independent.