The Sunday News
Vincent Gono in Lupane
NEWLY-APPOINTED Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Cde Victor Matemadanda yesterday said he is not going to be cowed into submission by corrupt factionalists who are fighting to control regions and provinces through proxies.
Speaking during the party’s Matabeleland North Provincial Co-ordinating Committee meeting in Lupane, the Cde Matemadanda said corrupt party officials have no place in the new political dispensation and they were going to be named and shamed.
He said he was going make sure that the culture of conscripting girlfriends and homeboys without a straight history in strategic party positions to build empires of people who submit to certain party seniors was going to end, adding that President Mnangagwa was aware of shenanigans of those that were dividing the party through lies.
“I will make sure that corruption in the party will be a thing of the past. There will be no sacred cows in the fight against rot in Government and the party. Sacred cows will be those that are not yet born. I will help the President in the fight against corruption,” he said.
He said the party was aware of people with hidden destructive agendas who were abusing the President’s name for selfish gains of creating divisions in the party. Cde Matemadanda said lies, rumours and connections with high party offices was destroying the party, adding that he was going to make sure he dismantles those and ensure correct procedures were applied in line with the party constitution. He said land evictions that were going on were not being done correctly as people were being harassed and losing their property.
“If they are to go on, they are supposed to identify land first for people before evicting them. We do not have as a party a culture of harassing people. We all know that times are hard but people are losing property in the evictions that have not been okayed by the party,” he added.
Cde Matemadanda said he was going to make sure the party structures right from the cells and branches were intact to add impetus to grassroots support. Cde Matemadanda explained the austerity measures and told the Matabeleland North party provincial leadership that the Government was mulling introducing a new currency as the multi-currency system was not economically sustainable. He said certain economic fundamentals were going to be put in place before the introduction of the new currency.
He added that the President was grounded in the suffering of the masses and was doing everything possible to alleviate the people’s struggles and cushion them against the tense economic environment. The PCC was called to address the issue of Lupane East constituency by-election after the death of Cde Sithembile Gumbo.
The by-election will be held on 3 August as proclaimed by the President and the National Political Commissar endorsed the decision of the provincial elections directorate to choose Cde Mbongeni Dube as the Zanu-PF candidate. There were no primary elections and Cde Dube was chosen on the basis of him having come second to the late Cde Gumbo in the previous party primary elections.
Explaining the process, party provincial chairman Cde Richard Moyo said there was no time to hold primary elections and as a province they agreed to use the criteria of going back to the previous results of the party primary elections where Cde Dube was second to Cde Gumbo.
He said there were five others who had submitted CVs but they all agreed with the criteria except Lupane council chairman Councillor Fibion Ngwenya who was phoning the national office complaining that the party was going to lose.
Clr did not attend yesterday’s PCC.
Cde Matemadanda said it was President Mnangagwa’s wish to democratise the political space and move away from the old dispensation where proxies were hand-picked by certain individuals at times at the expense of deserving people. He nevertheless endorsed the PCC’s decision and urged other candidates to support Cde Dube as they were working not for themselves but for the party, urging patience among them.
During a question and answer session former Senator for Tsholotsho Cde Believe Gaule asked Cde Matamadanda whether it was permissible for Government heads of departments to sabotage Government programmes to which he responded that ending corruption and sabotage was work in progress.
Cde Gaule said the party was supposed to be serious about fighting the rot in councils and in the party if it was to strengthen its structures. Another participant called on the party and Government to investigate Hwange Colliery Company and make sure everything was in place as there was a lot of corruption going on.
