EDITORIAL COMMENT: Housekeeping time for Zanu-PF

26 Oct, 2014 - 06:10 0 Views

The Sunday Mail

It has been a long time since Zanu-PF busied itself with serious housekeeping; too long in fact.

The issue of factionalism in the party has been simmering beneath the surface for decades.

Whereas in the past — such as when Cde Edgar Tekere decided to go his own way, or when Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire said “Mugabe must go” long before Morgan Tsvangirai did — the matter would have been decisively dealt with immediately.

For some reason, which we hope is not lethargy, Zanu-PF has in the present circumstances allowed a festering wound suppurate to the point now where it has burst open and threatens to destroy the revolutionary party.

The need for housekeeping is long overdue and tough decisions have to be made.

First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, the incoming chair of the Zanu-PF Women’s League, has provided the party with an opportunity to confront these issues of factionalism in a decisive manner.

Not only can the party start dealing with the existential threat posed by factionalism, but can also be seen to at last be taking steely action against the corruption that has been associated with it.

A good starting point would be this Wednesday’s Politburo meeting; the second in two weeks as the party heads towards its elective National Congress in December.

Some quarters in Zanu-PF want the President and First Secretary to be able to appoint Vice-Presidents and Second Secretaries as was agreed in the 1987 Unity Accord.

This, they cogently contend, will not only be in tandem with the Unity Accord, but would also ensure that the kind of disruptive factionalism and harmful campaigning and corruption associated with it are made redundant as the President would be working with a team whose loyalty to the broader cause of running an administration that develops the nation is never called into question.

Zanu-PF should also decide if it is in its best interests to get into Congress proper with a cabal of officials who have shown that they are determined to nuke any attempts at bringing sanity to the way things are done, officials who have become a law unto themselves and defy party resolutions and fan factionalism.

Related to this, the party already has a resolution on the need to create and empower an elections directorate that will oversee internal polls.

We understand that some officials have been working hard over the past year to ensure its directorate does not come into being.

The need for such a directorate was sharply brought into focus by the circus that we saw at the Sixth Youth League Conference this year.

If Zanu-PF is serious about getting its house in order, a proper directorate must be established so that the National Congress does not degenerate into the farce that the Youth League Conference was.

In addition, there must be seriousness about the logistical issues surrounding the holding of a Congress.

What happened during the Youth and Women’s conferences where people had no food, transport and accommodation is intolerable.

It points to technical incapacity to organise a conference, sabotage, or a poisonous mix of the two.

It is housekeeping time, and the nation is watching closely.

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