ZANU PF WILL NOT SPLIT DISGRUNTLED Mujuru allies are anticipating a situation where the revolutionary ZANU PF party will split in the middle and degenerate into chaos culminating in unity talks that could eventually allow them to reclaim their lost glory. Now led by former Administration Secretary Didymus Mutasa, the faction has fired missiles at President Robert Mugabe whom it had resolved to assassinate a few weeks before the partys 6th Peoples Congress to allow former Deputy President Joice Mujuru to take over; describing him as a partisan leader whose status as a rational thinker, unifier, national, regional and continental statesman had all but eroded away. According to media reports, Cde Mutasa views the December 2-7 Congress as illegal and its resolutions including the appointments of two new Second Secretaries and Party Vice Presidents null and void. President Mugabe appointed former Legal Affairs Secretary Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa as his new deputy drawn from the Shona speaking tribes alongside former Ambassador Cde Pelekezela Mphoko who also became Vice President representing the Ndebele tribe in the Presidium. According to the 1987 ZANU PF Unity Accord signed between former ZANU and ZAPU cadres who fought for the countrys liberation, the President must appoint two deputies effectively from both tribes and seniority and participation in the war of liberation has always been key in landing these VP posts. Congress also approved amendments to the ZANU PF constitution, which among other changes dropped the mandatory appointment of a woman representative to the Presidium and created one centre of power by allowing the First Secretary and Party President to appoint all politburo members including the Chairperson of the Party and Second Secretaries who had traditionally been nominated and elected by at least six provinces over the years. In 2004, Cde Emmerson had been nominated by at least eight provinces to land the Vice Presidency but was asked to step aside for Cde Joice Mujuru whom President Mugabe preferred to be his deputy that year. The Constitution was amended to pave way for a woman Vice President and Cde Mnangagwa did not protest that development. Despite his seniority and vast experience, he accepted to serve under Cde Joice Mujuru and did not raise a voice when he was assigned a very weak and peripheral Ministry of Rural Housing and Social Amenities. While events of the year 2004 confirmed Cde Emmerson Mnangagwas unquestionable loyalty to his master President Mugabe, the current situation which started when Cde Joice Mujuru boycotted Congress and followed by the ongoing Mutasa outbursts confirm a school of thought propounded by frank-speaking First Lady Grace Mugabe that President Mugabes long-time trusted comrades had become his greatest enemies and have over the years worked to create opposition parties while also selling out to hostile nations through their embassies. Former Vice President Mujurus snubbing of Congress came as a big surprise to President Mugabe who according to reports had planned to demote her to a Ministerial post while retaining her in both the Central Committee and the politburo. Certainly, it is Cde Mujuru who arrogantly disappointed the President by her behavior in absconding Congress. In a press statement published in the private media earlier this week, Cde Mutasa said that the party has been hijacked by what he calls Amafikizolo also called VanaMusvikazuro or Johnny-come-latelies. In that term, he is said to be referring to Media and Broadcasting Minister Jonathan Moyo, newly appointed political commissar and Environment Minister Saviour Kasukuwere, President Mugabes nephew Patrick Zhuwawo and a cocktail of others who did not participate in the war of liberation but are wielding powers in the party. These three together with Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Cde Oppah Muchinguri have been designated as the Gang of Four in the private media and often pronounced as the force behind Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwas elevation. With all due respect to Cde Mutasa for the bit that he did in the liberation struggle, it pains to stomach the fact that he would like to view young party cadres as irrelevant in both the retention of the countrys sovereignty and the furtherance of its empowerment policies which bank solely on the ability to nature national inheritance and smooth succession. While the so called Gang of Four may have their own shortcomings, it is our hope that they will continue to work together under the guidance of Vice President Mnangagwa who has seen it all in politics over the pre and post independence periods. President Mugabe obviously does not want to leave the party in tatters and ready to be devoured by our former colonizers. He instead intents to see continuity in the black empowerment policies epitomized in both the agricultural and industrial reform policy frameworks and other initiatives summarized in the ZIMASSET policy document. This is why the theme of the December 2014 Congress had to be the ACCELERATED IMPLEMENTATION OF ZIMASSET. President Mugabe therefore needs to ensure that the aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe have been met and a clear future been created before he can pass on the baton to the next leader. He has proven to be the nerve centre of the party and countrys unity and Cde Mutasa must not try and paint a gloomy picture on his legacy just because he has fallen from glory. He needs to remember that ZANU PF is a peoples party and it is bigger than individuals. The party, existing in a world where change is time based will not continue to be enslaved by liberation war history as non liberators will surely lead the country in future as long as they subscribe to the ideology of the party ZANU PF. To therefore call them amafikizolo is an insult to the enormous youth population who according to the constitution are the vanguard of our sovereignty. Having gone this far, it is necessary that I encourage Cde Mutasa to stop his outbursts and seek the attention of the President when he comes back from his holiday. He has already done enough damage to himself by trying to assassinate the President and even boasting of his evil intentions to his girlfriends. Its very uncharacteristic of liberation heroes to tell a girl friend that a liberation icon like Cde Mugabe will be shot. If the liberation struggle was about one-man-one-vote as said by Cde Mutasa, one would wonder whether seeking to kill someone in order to take his seat was also the purpose of the struggle. The party can not split because Cde Mutasa has lost his senses and started to behave like a counter-revolutionary. Instead he must humble himself, apologize to His Excellence and wait upon time to be readmitted back into mainstream politics. If he decides to continue with his current behavior, he can easily become another Edgar Tekere, Simba Makoni or Dumiso Dabengwa. The people of Zimbabwe are firmly behind President Mugabe and will not vote for any other party except ZANU PF. (Energy Mutodi is a member of ZANU PF).
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 11:46:38 +0000
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