In a leaked WhatsApp audio, a ruling party member from Umguza, Matabeleland North, has threatened to evict all opposition supporters from resettlement areas following the party’s poor performance in the 2023 elections.
The member, who is alleged to be Nkululeko Khumalo, said that the party’s performance from ward to constituency level was “not pleasing” and that the opposition had made significant gains in the area.
“We are watching what is happening here, whether the person who is turning against the party is someone we entered with here when we seized farms or not, they are now our enemy,” said Khumalo. “Let them go to those they voted for, we don’t want them here.”
Khumalo said that the party had never seen such results from Umguza before and that it was “painful”. He warned that if the party did not take action, the opposition would continue to make gains and could take over in the next election.
“Opposition party members are living with us, ZAPU, CCC and Mthwakazi, some of them are our neighbours but we are folding our arms and not taking any action,” he said. “Let us wake up, we are the ones bringing these people here, they are being settled by some of our traditional leaders and other ZANU PF party members and corrupt land officers.”
Khumalo said that the party had known about the presence of opposition supporters in the area but had done nothing to stop them. He said that the party should now take action to “clean house” and evict all opposition supporters.
“We know these people, let us evict them once and for all,” he said. “Let us just wait for the inauguration, we clean our house once and for all so as to not have opposition parties, Mthwakazi, ZAPU, CCC all of them out.”
The Matabeleland North ZANU-PF Provincial chairperson, Richard Moyo, denied knowledge of the matter.
