Tafadzwa Shumba, a member of Zimbabwe’s ZANU PF Central Committee, has accused the Director General of the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO), Isaac Moyo, of ordering a hit on him in an ongoing fight for Mwenezi West’s parliamentary seat.
Shumba challenged Moyo’s wife, Priscilla at ZANU PF’s primaries and later went independent after alleging that he lost due to the influence of Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ) and CIO operatives.
He disputed ZANU PF primary election results that placed him second behind Priscilla and wrote numerous letters to the party’s leadership raising complaints over FAZ’s operations to her benefit. He now claims that his car was hijacked at gunpoint and torched. He claimed that the attackers were looking for him and had been sent by Moyo. He said moments after losing the vehicle:
My car was hijacked at gun point 40 minutes ago at Tsungirirai Secondary School by what we suspect to be CIO operatives sent by their boss.
Mwenezi seems to have become a thorn in their flesh. I am safe and sound but they were heard saying they are looking for me specifically, they drove the vehicle towards Marhanda where gunshots rang.
The car was later found burnt beyond repair. Shumba is one of the few who have braved ZANU PF’s wrath to stand as an independent candidate after ‘losing’ primaries. Late Christopher Rwodzi, who contested independently under the banner Independent4ED, was killed in an accident on his way to the rural constituency.
Ndinyarei Mupukuta, who was contesting the Maramba-Pfungwe National Assembly seat independently, withdrew his candidature citing personal reasons last week. His withdrawal came after President Emmerson Mnangagwa issued a stern warning to disgruntled Zanu PF members running as independent candidates. Mnangagwa reminded them to follow the party’s rules and emphasised that the party had been in existence for over 64 years. Mnangagwa warned that anyone who acted against the party’s interests would face consequences. He urged all party members to unite and work together for the good of the party and emphasised that the deployment of candidates was the responsibility of the party leadership and not individual members.