Financial Gazette (Harare)
Clemence Manyukwe
8 May 2008
Harare — WRANGLING over farms with top ruling party officials cost ZANU-PF member Leo Mugabe his political career when he was barred at the 11th hour from representing the party in the March 29 polls.
Mugabe won ZANU-PF primary elections for the Makonde senatorial constituency but was told at the last minute that the seat had been reserved for a woman.
Mugabe played a prominent role in the last parliament as the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport and Communications after winning the Makonde House of Assembly seat in the 2005 elections.
Sources this week told The Financial Gazette that Mugabe had clashed with Lands Ministry officials over the chaotic distribution of land in the province.
The matter is said to have resulted in Vice President Joseph Msika instructing National Security, Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement Minister Didymus Mutasa to suspend the issuing of offer letters.
Allegations that Mugabe was a multiple farm owner did not help matters.
In divorce papers filed with the High Court last month, Mugabe's wife Veronica spilled the beans about the couple's ownership of three farms.
Mugabe confirmed in an interview yesterday that he initially won party primaries to represent Makonde in the senate, but the seat was reserved for a woman at the last minute.
"I had actually won the seat. I was born and bred in ZANU-PF. I am a party cadre. If the party asks me to do something, I think that is the right decision. That was a party decision and I respect that," Mugabe said.
"Things have to move on. You move from soccer, you go to parliament. You leave. That is the journey of life."
Mugabe is a former chairman of the Zimbabwe Football Association.
Initially he had intended to retain his Makonde House of Assembly seat, then also campaigned to represent Mhangura constituency in the Lower House of parliament, before contesting in primaries for the Makonde senatorial seat, only to be barred.
Mugabe said he abandoned the two House of Assembly seats because Douglas Mombeshora and former Chinhoyi mayor Risipa Kapesa had expressed a keen interest in them. Both candidates went on to win in the March polls.
He said despite leaving parliament, he would still play an active role in ZANU-PF and concentrate on his businesses.
The ruling party's provincial spokesperson for Mashonaland West has shares in blue chip companies, including mobile telecommunications provider Telecel Zimbabwe; engineering giants Stewarts & Lloyds and Integrated Engineering Group; steel dealer Baldwins Steel; and investment firm Themiso Holdings.
Despite his estranged wife's divorce revelations, Mugabe denied that he was a multiple farm owner and described allegations that he has three farms as a falsehood.
Turning to allegations that his political career in Mashonaland West province had floundered because he had protected white farmers facing possible evictions, Mugabe said he had opposed corruption in the land reform exercise and would continue to do so.
He said there were anomalies in the manner in which some people were being issued with offer letters and no one wanted to take responsibility for such irregularities.
"The Minister (Mutasa) would say it is the governor. The governor would say 'I don't know anything'," Mugabe said.
Nelson Samkange is the Mashonaland West governor.
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