Harare ‑ Two National People’s Party (NPP) top officials were reportedly involved in a nasty brawl on Thursday, leaving one of them suffering a fractured leg. They were allegedly fighting over the coalition talks.
NPP is led by President Robert Mugabe’s former deputy, Joice Mujuru, who was sacked from the ruling party in the build-up to the 2014 party’s conference for allegedly plotting to remove the 93-year-old from power.
Mujuru’s spokesperson, Gift Nyandoro ‑ who is also the party’s incoming secretary-general ‑ is said to have suffered a fractured leg after being allegedly beaten up by their party’s national spokesperson, Jealousy Mawarire, at a city hotel.
Nyandoro confirmed the incident, saying he had been admitted at a private hospital in the capital. Immediately after the fracas, Mawarire sent a statement to journalists saying Nyandoro “does not speak on behalf on NPP”.
This, he said, was after Nyandoro had been quoted in a local daily under the headline "Mujuru committed to coalition".
“It should be noted that Mr Nyandoro is President Joice Mujuru’s spokesperson and his duties do not include speaking on behalf of the party. Although, as a senior party member Mr Nyandoro is aware of the party position on different issues, his brief as Presidential Spokesperson does not include speaking on behalf of the party,” Mawarire said.
“We urge our members and our media partners to ignore unofficial statements by party officials who are not mandated to speak on behalf of the party.”