EDITORIAL COMMENT: Zanu-PF purge must continue First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe
First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe

First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe

IN less than a fortnight, the ruling Zanu-PF party holds its 6th Elective Congress in Harare in a crucial gathering expected to come up with far-reaching resolutions and decisions that will shape the future of Zimbabwe.

In the run-up to the Congress, the nation has been held spellbound by the dramatic entrance into the vanguard party’s structures by the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe who has shaken the institution to the core with her candid and refreshingly honest view of developments in the party of independence.

In essence, the First Lady, through her various engagements with the rank and file of the party from war veterans, war collaborators, women, youth and other interest groups like informal traders and students, has reinvigorated Zanu-PF in an unprecedented manner. Through her frank assessment of the goings-on in the party, she has lifted a veil which hitherto had kept some shenanigans being concocted by certain senior cadres under wraps.

We are glad that Zanu-PF has realised the folly of keeping elements that are detrimental to its survival and is in the process of cleansing to rid itself of undesirables. Painful as it maybe, this process is necessary so that the party reconnects with its founding ethos, values and principles which have endeared it to the electorate.

Whereas in the past, the party has turned a blind eye to the treacherous behaviour of some of its comrades, it can no longer afford to do so as evidenced by the lengths some of them were willing to go to remove President Mugabe from power.

In the run up to the March 2008 harmonised elections, some Zanu-PF officials worked hand in glove with Simba Makoni’s Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Movement to derail Cde Mugabe’s campaign and in the process, the Bhora musango/Ibhola egangeni crusade succeeded in handing MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai a narrow victory over the President.

That was almost calamitous were it not for the 50+1 percent rule which spawned a run-off which President Mugabe won resoundingly in June 2008. Those same elements were back again at the conclusion of the tenure of the inclusive government when they advocated for an extension of the dysfunctional arrangement with the MDC formations.

They were dead set against the July 2013 elections and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to campaign for the party. Now they want the President to step down hardly a year into his five-year term and against an overwhelming mandate given to him by the people of Zimbabwe. Thank God for the First Lady, their cover has been blown and they have nowhere to hide.

Zimbabweans today are aware of the machinations of a faction led by Vice President Joice Mujuru and the lengths to which they were prepared to go to seize power. One by one the party is removing them and by the time of the Congress on December 2, only REAL Zanu-PF cadres with the interests of the party at heart will be left standing.

This is necessary in order ensure that the party restructures and reorganises itself ahead of the 2018 elections. It is also trite to point out that the party needs to conclude its housekeeping issues at Congress so that it frees government to focus on the important task of running this country.

President Mugabe needs a strong, reliable and honest team to implement government programmes particularly the much-vaunted Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation. He cannot be surrounded by people who are plotting day and night to assassinate him. We therefore call on the ruling party to continue in its efforts to identify the bad apples and cast them out before they contaminate the good ones.

We are confident that after this exercise, the party will emerge stronger, united and formidable as ever. As for the coup plotters, we can only advise them to be contrite, confess their sins and seek forgiveness. They should also be willing to accept the consequences of their actions.

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