Sunday Mail Reporter

The disbanding of Zanu-PF district co-ordinating committees (DCCs) was long overdue as the structures were not part of the original system, a senior party official has said.

In an interview yesterday, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa said the decision to do away with the committees calls for celebration.
He said it re-positioned the revolutionary party.
“It should be understood that the DCC structures were not part of the original Zanu-PF systems. Zanu-PF has now gone back to its roots; it is a cause for celebration

and reflection. The party is focused on maintaining its revolutionary principles,” he said.

Cde Mutasa said the new dispensation gives districts autonomy.
“The removal of the DCCs means that the districts will now be acting with autonomy.
“Each district can now be accountable for its own actions and there is now a clear platform for separation of powers between the province and the districts.” Cde Mutasa said senior party officials will, starting this week, visit provinces to articulate the disbanding of the DCCs and gather recommendations.

“Next week (this week), we are going to start the visits in the Matabeleland provinces and engage with party officials to map the way forward. Obviously, there were some who held influential positions in the DCCs.
“We will also seek audience with them so that they acknowledge that in a democracy, new decisions should be accepted.”

Zanu-PF national political commissar Cde Webster Shamu said the DCCs were destroying the party.
“The DCCs must go because they were destroying the party. Zanu-PF will be better off without them,” he said.
Recently, divisions rocked some Zanu-PF districts after candidates disputed DCC polls.

The party then tasked Cde Shamu to gather information regarding the elections with a view to charting the way forward. Addressing the Zanu-PF Central Committee in Harare last Friday, President Mugabe, who is the party’s First Secretary, said the decision to disband the DCCs was taken at Wednesday’s Politburo meeting.