Zanu-PF will get more than 65 percent of the vote

Obert Moses Mpofu 

Roar Shumba Roar

CONGRATULATIONS to my boss, the freshly reappointed First Secretary and President of the ruling Zanu-PF His Excellency Cde Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa. The people saw him worthy and his credentials resold him to lead our dear revolutionary party Zanu-PF. Automatically, this officially sets him for the 2023 Harmonised Elections presidential candidature. In the short stint of his tenure, Zimbabwe has witnessed monumental economic revival, infrastructure development, industrial retooling, extractive sector value addition, judiciary independence enhancement, wrestling of inflation culminating in the currency reforms we are witnessing at the moment. 

Since his recruitment to the armed struggle, President Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa has demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that he is a servant of the people’s cause. His loyalty attributes to national interest are enough to justify why the Congress chose him to lead the revolutionary party. President Mnangagwa’s leadership endorsement at the just ended Zanu-PF 7th Congress symbolically preserves Zimbabwe against the perils of the global sabotage we have suffered in the face of the illegal sanctions. His reform thrust is organically rebranding Zimbabwe as a safe investment destination, democratic nation and a respectable member of the international community to the shame of our sanction-mongering illegitimate opposition coupled with its imperialistic allies.

It is difficult to attempt summing up his legacy without paying greater attention to his pragmatic drive for genuine nation-building. Since 2017, he has made the issue of Gukurahundi a top priority in achieving national reconciliation and social cohesion. Just recently, he consulted with traditional leaders across the length and breadth of the then Gukurahundi-prone areas. The traditional leaders prescribed a manual for the state’s adoption in redressing this dark side of our past. In so doing, President Mnangagwa has demonstrated that our incongruent pasts should not be allowed to be a hindrance to securing the peace and prosperity of those to be born many years after our generation of leaders is promoted to glory. Clearly, the man has a futuristic conscience in mapping a way for a better future for our nation. This is why he set a vision for national development beyond his tenure in office. He is endlessly pronouncing that under his leadership, “No One and No Place will be left behind” until all of us are rich by 2030. 

Apart from his pursuit for Zimbabwe to be reintegrated into the international community after enduring two decades of isolation, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa’s administration has been result-oriented to transform Zimbabwe into a Prosperous and Empowered Upper-Middle Income Society by 2030. Therefore, it is no accident that the entire Sadc region and the rest of the continent have seen it fit to call for the unconditional removal of the illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe. Surely, with such a century’s work within a single term in office, it would be ridiculous for anyone to want Zanu-PF to let go of such a leader. The 7th Zanu-PF National People’s Congress confirmed this, Cde ED Mnangagwa is our President as clearly stipulated by both the party and national constitutions respectively. The outcome of the Congress has demonstrated that the speculation about factionalism in Zanu-PF was just but a wish of those who would want to see our party in shambles. However, this will not be the case until we meet again at the next congress. For now it’s all congratulations to President Mnangagwa to the reappointment. “He is the Boss!!!” Amhlophe Vodloza, Makorokoto Mdawini.

Post-Congress Rejuvenation

The Congress was an outgrowth of our robust party restructuring process since Cde ED Mnangagwa assumed the presidency of our party in 2017, Zanu-PF. This has been noted through the new faces that have occupied leadership in the Central Committee which is the highest decision-making body of Zanu-PF. The new entries into the Central Committee pave way continuity of the party. As it stands, Zanu-PF has already benefited a lot from the rebranding that it has underwent through the coming of the New Dispensation. At this point than never before, the stability of the Party is being guaranteed. With all systems set for the 2023 election as I write this piece, I can assure the world that Zanu-PF will definitely get nothing less than 65 percent of the vote in the coming plebiscite. You heard me right, 65% vote! 

Tell No Lies, Claim No Easy Victories

We have worked hard and we will continue working extremely harder to ensure that the motion of our current progress is uninterrupted. To this end, I am particularly grateful that His Excellency, the President, Cde Dr ED Mnangagwa appointed me to be Zanu-PF’s Secretary for Administration once more. This is an opportunity for my office to continue enhancing the professionalisation of the party. This is yet another chance to ensure that while Zanu-PF strengthens its mass-line approach, corporate governance will be reinforced across all departments of the party. Guided by the resolutions of the last National People’s Conference, it will be imperative to ensure that the culture of monitoring and evaluation in the daily running of the party is strengthened. This is where Party supremacy over Government comes in. All our ministries should be ready to acquit for all their policy deliverables. The Zanu-PF-led government owes the people of Zimbabwe the best of public goods and services. We also owe each Zimbabwean a corrupt free policy delivery culture. 

President ED Mnangagwa has given us a clear template of how our party should be modernised for the betterment of national interest and vision. Therefore, his currently appointed secretariat at the citadel of power (Zanu-PF Headquarters) has no option but to work extremely hard to ensure that the party is set for success and longevity. Meanwhile, the establishment of the Council of Elders will ensure that our institutional memory is well preserved. By virtue of being a party of history, we have created this important organic archive to be comprised of statecraft doyens to mentor budding politicians. This will be an important strategy repository of the party — all our wisdom from the armed struggle and party survival strategies will be banked in the newly born Elders Council. All this is being done because we are setting up a victorious future for the nationalist legacy. To achieve this we must go into our revolutionary archive, this way we will re-live the teaching of Almicar Cabral to “tell no lie and claim no easy victories”. 

The author, Dr Obert Moses Mpofu is the newly appointed Zanu-PF Secretary for Administration in the Politburo.