Zanu-PF Congress: The lessons we have learnt

07 Dec, 2014 - 00:12 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

The voyeuristic nature in which the opposition political parties and the anti-Mugabe media both at home and abroad has thrown itself into the Zanu-PF Congress issues is laden with implications and meaning.

Every single day — with very few exceptions — over the past couple of months, the private media in Zimbabwe has preoccupied itself with determining who should succeed President Mugabe. And this done without even giving a thought to the fact that a decisive majority of the electorate only last year said they wanted him at the helm of the country for at least another five years.

Needless to say, they and their handlers have fallen flat, with the Zanu-PF Congress making it clear to those that need such reminding that President Mugabe is very much in control of the ruling party and Government.

But this Peeping Tom interest in Zanu-PF tells us a few things about the inescapable realities.

The first is the most obvious: there are many forces that still will not rest until they see to President Mugabe’s demise and the disintegration of one of Africa’s last remaining genuinely liberation-oriented governing parties.

This calls for vigilance on the part of all those who truly believe in the economic emancipation of indigenous peoples.

It is also patently clear that there is a strong push to divide the ruling party from within. Zanu-PF should not countenance such manoeuvres, as these deflect attention from the pressing business of building a nation and engineering socio-economic transformation as we focus on power plays and jockeying for positions.

We now know that reactionary elements had infiltrated the ruling party right up to the highest levels and such a close call can only be allowed to repeat itself at our own existential risk as a sovereign nation.

Zimbabweans can ill afford another such harrowing encounter with regression and the onus is on all of us, and in particular the leadership of Zanu-PF to ensure that this does not happen again. Ever!

Secondly, this voyeurism has demonstrated once again that Zanu-PF is the only political player worth talking about in Zimbabwe.

MDC-T’s mock congress passed like wet blanket a few weeks ago, and the politicians in the opposition themselves seemed more concerned with developments Zanu-PF than in their own moribund party.

The fact is Zanu-PF and President Mugabe’s Government are not going anywhere, and all citizens and the international community are better off accepting this and finding ways with working constructively with those in office.

Which leads to another issue: this great interest in Zanu-PF’s affairs should create a realisation within the ruling party leadership that it bears a huge responsibility to facilitate the attainment of the aspirations of the people of this country.

The acknowledgement — direct and backhanded — of the importance of Zanu-PF and President Mugabe in Zimbabwe should spur the party to ensure that it conducts itself in a manner befitting its status and centrality to the country’s development.

Zimbabweans will also have learnt that the anti-Mugabe media are prepared to overlook, twist and misrepresent anything — including criminal behaviour — so long as this kind of reportage advances their agenda to unseat a constitutionally-elected Head of State and Government.

No deceit, no depravity is too base for some of these. And Zimbabweans now know better who to trust. When all is said and done, it is everyone’s hope that Zanu-PF will learn the lessons that should be learnt from this, and get on with governing our beloved Zimbabwe on a trajectory that leads to development and an improvement in people’s standards of living.

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