The Sunday News
THE Zanu-PF’s 16th Annual National People’s Conference that ended in Masvingo yesterday did not only just seek to unify and strengthen the revolutionary party ahead of the 2018 general elections.
It also sought to concretise and cement the structures of the party in light of the verbal political slurs that have been flying thick and fast for the better part of the year.
The year 2016 had been an eventful year for Zanu-PF with senior party cadres trading unpleasant words in public, something which was an anathema in the not so distant past where the party was known for its high levels of political discipline and respect for political hierarchy. It is our view that polarisation in a big and strategic organisation such as Zanu-PF is not welcome.
Admittedly, the conference was an annual political event where the party takes stock of its state, structures as well as oiling its wheels as it faces the political terrain going forward. Zanu-PF’s conferences are different from conferences of other political parties in magnitude and scope.
This is so because it is the ruling party that formed this Government and this gives Zanu-PF a purely national audience where even traditional political foes are bound to give an ear to the deliberations. Suffice to say the party is mindful of that hence its resolutions are made to dove-tail into the country’s national development discourse.
The country’s economy is in a critical state and needs to recover, thus retrogressive sentiments to recovery interventions are not welcome and should be treated with the contempt they deserve.
All this can be achieved if there is unity of purpose within the ruling party. President Mugabe has therefore as usual been spot on during the conference calling for unity and shaming polarisation.
The President an honest politician and a man of his word also during the conference did not hesitate to point out where the problem in the party is, rightly so rapping senior party officials for taking party issues to the social media and private Press instead of addressing issues within the relevant organs of the party.
As party officials reflect on the events of the conference it is our hope that they would work to make sure that factionalism, unnecessary grumblings, scheming against each other disappear like dust.
They should embrace the spirit of unity and let wayward doctrines depart from the party and go elsewhere, for in Zanu-PF they have no place. We therefore look at President Mugabe’s statements during the conference with a proud glance, for his views were spot on.
A party such as Zanu-PF that brought Independence to this country should not tolerate within its midst cadres whose hearts are foul. We hope that after the Masvingo conference all rancour has departed because Zimbabweans are looking forward to be led by a people sensitive Zanu-PF, the Zanu-PF they know, the Zanu-PF that brought down colonial rule. All rancour should depart from the revolutionary Zanu-PF.
It should be noted that during the conference much emphasis was put on strategies that have to be employed to revive the country’s economy as evidenced by the well crafted theme – “Moving with Zim-Asset in Peace and Unity.”
It was at the conference where ministers gave what their ministries have done so far in pushing forward the country’s economic blueprint whose term expires in 2018.
Economic revival therefore took centre-stage at the conference with President Mugabe saying the theme was both timely and relevant as it made matters the focal point of the conference’s deliberations.
He called on delegates to robustly and frankly offer solutions to the country’s economic recovery in agriculture, mining, commerce, tourism and infrastructural development.
We take this opportunity to remind the comrades in Zanu-PF that the patriotic people of Zimbabwe do not eat their fights for political positions but they want them to create an enabling economic environment that will allow them to work and develop the country.
Economic revival is pinned on Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016, popularly referred to as SI 64/2016 which was promulgated in June this year and the specialised Command Agriculture Project are such interventions that the 2017 budget will build on.
Ably supported, the two interventions can provide the tonic to the country’s economic challenges, in the short, medium and long term.
It is our belief that with necessary support, the interventions by the Government will see the country finding its economic footing and be counted among the region’s exporters as well as reclaim its bread basket status in the Sadc bloc.
A report by Buy Zimbabwe shows that demand for local goods increased notably, since the introduction of SI64, while the volume of imports has also declined after the introduction of the restrictions.
According to the report imports declined by eight percent from $429 million to 394 million in first two month of the introduction of SI64, compared to the same period in 2015.
There has also been a notable increase in prices of imported goods in most retail shops, as demand and consumption of locally produced goods reportedly increased following the introduction of import restrictions.
Stimulating local production, boosts local industry and creates employment in the same breath, hence such interventions as SI64/2016 need all the necessary support.
