Time Zanu-PF closed ranks

zanu pf

Spectrum, Joram Nyathi
The biggest challenge Zanu-PF faces today is the economy. That is why it must put its head together. And that economy begins with a matter as basic as pay days for Government workers and access to cash for Zimbabweans in general. That should be the biggest agenda item for the Masvingo conference

It’s time Zanu-PF put its head together.

That is the prize Zanu-PF can award itself out of its National People’s Conference ending tomorrow in Masvingo. Unity of mind, purpose and spirit.

That is our reading of President Mugabe’s admission that the Zanu-PF leadership failed in 2016. There was lack of both maturity and discipline, he said.

The problem is that such failure by an institution like Zanu-PF is not a matter for the party. It is a national issue and impacts on the wellbeing of the state, for it is Zanu-PF policies which determine which direction the nation is going, the mood of the people.

We had a glimpse of this failure earlier in the year when two cabinet ministers, Patrick Chinamasa and Patrick Zhuwao, came out fighting over indigenisation in the banking sector. We know how such incidents whet the appetite of those for whom that policy was always a gross aberration and would love to see it unravel. President Mugabe was forced to step in.

But at the Zanu-PF Central Committee meeting on Wednesday President Mugabe was talking about something more fundamental than mere misinterpretation of Government and party policy when he talked about leadership failure. It was the almost sacred subject of succession which the party seems to have failed or to be failing to handle with sufficient maturity, candour and discipline despite having a Constitution.

Over the years Zanu-PF supporters and those in leadership have given the false impression that it is a crime to talk about succession and show, let alone openly express, political ambition. Including among those with liberation war credentials. It is indeed disturbing.

Here is a party which reminds the youth every day that they are the leaders of tomorrow but failing to inculcate in them the values of discipline, protocols and rules of the party leading to the top. Leaders of tomorrow must be nurtured today as followers. It is particularly those with leadership ambition who should be the most disciplined.

The point is that when the time comes for the party to scout for a leader, your work for the party and the nation should loom far larger than your personal ambition for the post. It would be irresponsible on the part of the electors to select someone on the basis of their ambition rather service.

That’s the surest highway to a dangerous dictatorship.

Disciplined cadre should in turn be most happy and successful if they were to lead disciplined followers. Indiscipline can only destabilise both the party and nation. We have witnessed how that lack of discipline in the party has had deleterious ramifications, fuelling rampant corruption across the nation and political parties.

The President was forced to step in again on Wednesday.

After chiding Central Committee members for failure to demonstrate the high levels of maturity and discipline expected of people in leadership positions, President told his audience, “I have said this before that there is nothing wrong in expressing an ambition or aspiring for leadership positions, or for higher offices in the party. But I have however also frowned upon shameless and unbridled ambition to ride roughshod over others.”

It is up to every political party to set criteria for selection to various positions in its hierarchy; some talk about length in the “trenches” while others talk about liberation war. Lately there has been talk of service to the party.

Without setting any conditions, President Mugabe has managed in a brief sentence to disabuse those in his party who have sought to criminalise political ambition in the name of protecting his leadership. There is nothing wrong in expressing ambition for any leadership position.

The trouble comes when that ambition feeds on indiscipline. I recall a few years back when the President had to crack the whip again, telling aspirants that “there is no vacancy” for President. He never said no one should aspire or have ambition to be President of the Republic. Simply that those with such ambition should respect the incumbent. This is an unspoken tenet acknowledged even in private organisations. You don’t slight your boss by doing everything possible to show him you want to take over his position. Your work for the organisation should commend you; institutional welfare, not just your own. So shall it be in Zanu-PF.

The worst demand is that President Mugabe should choose a successor. That is not only undemocratic but against the constitutions of both the party and nation. He has no constitutional mandate to nominate anyone to take over the Presidency. That is why he has always insisted that leaders are chosen by the people. Which brings us to be latest ill-advised noise over the “one centre of power” principle and selection of Vice Presidents.

There is no contradiction in this with democratic norms, or if there is, it is overblown. The one centre of power principle came about as a way to cure the current disease wrecking the party: unbridled political ambition breeding indiscipline. It certainly was not a mistake given that even as a majority of our people suffer the depredations wrought by Western sanctions, those in positions to ease that suffering spend time fighting for party positions. It is nothing short of criminal, thanks to a hopeless opposition which gives Zanu-PF so much space to fight itself.

The President selects his deputies to help him execute his functions. They don’t have to be the most popular with voters; but those with whom he can easily do his work. That is the nature of appointments. Elections don’t always yield the best of workmates, but one can tolerate a chosen bedfellow. But then, the party can indulge in these debates about centres of power and election of vice-presidents at its own peril.

The biggest challenge Zanu-PF faces today is the economy. That is why it must put its head together. And that economy begins with a matter as basic as pay days for Government workers and access to cash for Zimbabweans in general. That should be the biggest agenda item for the Masvingo conference.

The introduction of bond notes to ease the US dollar shortages is only a first step. And it’s not as easy as printing as many of them as the presses can turn. Which is why we appreciate Reserve Bank Governor John Mangudya’s cautious, if not overcautious, weight on the switch. But that is why we also have a government. If it were to deal only with simple issues, any party could win an election.

Our message is clear enough: it is one thing for Zanu-PF to be seen to be failing to resolve an intractable cash crisis, quite another to be seen to be uncaring, too immersed in its own domestic affairs. That’s one sure way to legitimise a massive protest vote, and the year of reckoning is only a few short steps away from Masvingo.

 

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