The Sunday News
DEVELOPMENTS in Zanu-PF in the period between last year’s 15th National People’s Conference in Victoria Falls and the one that will be held in Masvingo next month have portrayed a party that is capable of being its own enemy.
In between the two conferences some politicians in its rank and file have been found wanting in uniting the party. Frankly, a situation where politicians of the ruling party engage in serious verbal fights among themselves retards Government business and affects the country’s population in ways unimagined.
A lot of time is expended on petty personal political goat-kids-fights while diverting attention from the national development goals enshrined in the country’s economic blueprint Zim Asset, as both senior and junior politicians engage in verbal and cyber wars that the media has dutifully been feasting on.
This has never been the Zanu-PF culture that people used to know. The hierarchy, although complete theoretically and on paper, practically does not exist, at least in the eyes of some politicians. Such a culture is alien to Zanu-PF that has been known for an unwavering discipline and for its penchant for following protocol.
A lot of things happened in between the conferences with the party putting measures in place to deal with some of them but in most cases the solutions were piecemeal and appeared cosmetic in nature — and some never bothered to adhere to the calls for order.
The level of indiscipline displayed by some Zanu-PF cadres this time around cannot be matched. Even opposition political parties that have been suffering successive defeats at the hands of the revolutionary party with its high levels of respect for authority and discipline felt they are better, if one looks at the suspensions and expulsions.
There is no doubt that the election loss that Zanu-PF suffered to independent candidate Temba Mliswa in Norton stinks of the high level of disorganisation that the party is going through in as much as there is no doubt that the wars in the war veterans camps are fanned by lack of discipline and outright lack of respect for protocol and authority.
Uniting the warring veterans of the liberation struggle and letting them find each other should remain a top conference priority while the party leadership need to put foot on the pedal and chart the way the party should follow going forward bearing in mind that a disjointed Zanu-PF is as dangerous to the nation as it is to the economy.
It does not need one with a microscope to tell that the problems in the war veterans are a microcosm of the macrocosm — a hint of the bigger political wars in the party and that those fighting in different camps are deriving their inspiration, excitement and power from politicians within the party.
No one doubts that the war veterans are an important cog that forms the vanguard of the party as most cadres right from the pinnacle of the party are either war veterans themselves or protégés of the war of liberation and therefore their fight for legitimacy and seniority is not healthy.
The idea where some war veterans want to be more superior than others and bully others should be dealt with. Equally important is the need for those that may not necessarily be war veterans but have been working for the good of the party and the nation to be accorded the respect they deserve. What is good though, is that there is movement on the ground to normalise relations with the ruling party.
It should be noted that not all war veterans are in politics. A lot of them are somehow forgotten and are in the villages in the countryside while those that purport to represent them are fighting and creating problems for the party.
The party should never allow itself to go for elections as disjointed as it is. The Norton by election is one such case in point.
The conference should therefore deal frankly with the divisions so that a culture of unity where the party is given precedence over personal matters is cultivated and perpetuated. It will be foolhardy for the party to approach the election campaign year in the state it is now. The party’s situation has been helped by the squabbles in the country’s fragmented opposition political parties. Had there been an organised political party in the country, Zanu-PF could have lost a significant number of supporters.
The 16th National People’s Conference that will be held at Masvingo’s Showgrounds next month is therefore expected to project Zanu-PF as a party that people should vote for, as a party that people need to pin their hopes on.
The party should make a serious introspection of itself and position its members on their rightful posts where order, discipline, unity and respect for authority should be adhered to.
It is hoped that the party will emerge from the conference an invigorated party where internal fights will be made a thing of the past. But that can only be achieved if leaders choose to be open to each other and not play hide and seek as it has the danger of creating a lot of speculative behaviour. Energies should therefore not be expended in creating an empire and gold coat it or destroying each other’s political careers but in rallying the Zimbabwean population behind the candidacy of President Mugabe for 2018.
It should patch and bridge its internal conflicts if it is to avoid another humbling defeat similar to the Norton one come 2018, as well as the bhora musango mantra that characterised the humiliating 2008 elections.
