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Nduduzo Tshuma  Senior Political Reporter
TRUE unity between the liberation movements — Zanu and PF-Zapu — remains an elusive goal for as long as demands to reserve posts in the united Zanu-PF remain, according to leading political figures and analysts.A 1987 Unity Accord between the two parties to end post-independence hostilities was designed to fully integrate the two parties under the umbrella of Zanu-PF, but the insistence by ex-PF-Zapu leaders on retaining the posts of second Vice President and national chairman are undermining these efforts.

“People have to vote for who they want, and quality. Some say I was senior (in PF-Zapu), not now but in 1976, to claim legitimacy as the next in line for these top posts, even when there’re party activists who are there and can do a better job,” says Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association chairman, Cde Jabulani Sibanda.

“People are denied their right to elect a leader they want; it means that one is imposed on the people.”

The 1987 Accord says, “Zanu-PF and PF-Zapu have irrevocably committed themselves to unite under one political party . . . Zanu-PF”. It went further to say that, “Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe shall be the First Secretary and President of Zanu-PF . . . that Zanu-PF shall have two Second Secretaries and Vice Presidents who shall be appointed by the First Secretary and President of the party”.

After 1987, President Mugabe appointed former PF-Zapu leader Cde Joshua Nkomo as his second Vice President, while his deputy Cde Joseph Msika assumed the post of national chairman. Since then, the two positions have been held by former PF-Zapu leaders, although there is no express clause in the Accord ring-fencing the two posts.

Ahead of Zanu-PF’s elective congress in December, some ex-Zapu leaders insist there is an unwritten “gentleman’s agreement” reserving the two posts for former PF-Zapu members.

Cde Simon Khaya-Moyo, the outgoing Zanu-PF national chairman who has set his sights on the second vice presidency made vacant by the death of Cde John Landa Nkomo in January last year, says a precedence has been set and attempts to break away from this tradition will divide the party.

Speaking after Cde Didymus Mutasa, the current secretary for administration expressed an interest in replacing him as national chairman, Cde Khaya Moyo said: “Why are you trying to confuse things?  Tradition is there and everyone knows what has been happening and it should be like that, simple.

“The same process that had been used in the past has to follow and so people should not try to confuse things. People should know the protocol of the party, it is written in black and white and besides precedence was set, it has to be followed, nothing more nothing less, it is very simple and straightforward.”

On the second vice presidency, a senior Zanu-PF official, declining to be named, told Chronicle that there had been “spirited attempts to regionalise the position and to even suggest that it should be given to former PF-Zapu people when in fact it should be given to a Zanu-PF person.”

He added: “If it’s true that it should be given to a former PF-Zapu person, then that means theoretically it is possible to give it to Dumiso Dabengwa, which can’t be, because he and his people are not part of the national scene, they’ve regionalised themselves.

“The reason why it does not make sense to say ‘former PF-Zapu only’ is that it undermines the same thing that was to unite the two parties (Unity Accord) so that there is no former PF-Zapu or former Zanu but everyone identifies with Zanu-PF.

“It also means that anyone else who claims to have been former PF-Zapu from anywhere qualifies and that would include the likes of Dabengwa.”

The official said the “pre-occupation with the Vice President post” — with at least four former PF-Zapu leaders declaring interest — was exposing the argument that there are two positions reserved for ex-PF-Zapu people, those of Vice President and national chairman.

Apart from Cde Khaya Moyo, Home Affairs Minister Kembo Mohadi, former diplomat Cde Phelekezela Mphoko, politburo member Cde Naison Khutshwekhaya Ndlovu and Rtd Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri have signalled interest in the post of second Vice President.

“If that is true (that the seats are reserved), how come no-one from there (former PF-Zapu) has come out and said they want to be national chairman? Everyone who has come out wants to be Vice President, we can forgive them because that is the post that is vacant as said by Cde Mohadi, but to say that is the only post vacant is false because all leadership positions in the party are going to be vacant.

“President Mugabe has said that everyone must       resign before the December congress. Why are they going for vice presidency only when they’re telling everyone that the Unity Accord positions are Vice President and national chairman?

“They’re telling others (Cde Mutasa) not to show an interest in a position they’re not interested in (national chairman). You want to leave that vacant position permanently vacant?

“The lack of interest is exposing those comrades from there who are saying the position is theirs. What we can see now is that no-one is interested, including the incumbent (Cde Khaya Moyo), he is not interested in it. He wants to leave it and says, ‘I must be succeeded by a former PF-Zapu member’. Which one, who is that?”

Political analyst Dr Lawton Hikwa said there was a need to correct the widely-held belief that the two positions should be occupied by former PF-Zapu members. But he says any break with this tradition would require some delicate handling.

“None of the positions have ever been constituted on a regional basis or party basis. It has rather come by precedence  after the signing of the Unity Acord. Perhaps to consolidate the unity that was signed,  it was arranged that the VP and the national chairperson would come from PF-Zapu. Appointments of both positions have then followed precedence,” said Dr Hikwa.

“It has served a particular purpose and continues to do so. Even at law, it is said precedence informs current and future practices.”

Dr Hikwa said some processes are meant to serve a certain purpose until there is a change of thought.

“The new thinking which suggests a different way speaks to democratic practice. I wouldn’t side with either but both thoughts have a lot of sense,” he said.

Political analyst and playwright Cont Mhlanga said he had a problem with the use of seniority and reserving both posts for PF-Zapu members.

“Ten to 20 years from now, all these ex-Zapu leaders will be gone,” says Mhlanga. “What happens then?”

Instead of reserving these positions and putting older politicians on a higher pedestal, Mhlanga says leaders in the southern part of the country — PF-Zapu’s former stronghold — must put more focus on grooming young future leaders.

“If you look at the young generation in Zanu-PF from here in Matabeleland, the only visible person is Jabulani Sibanda. With the others, it’s really difficult to connect the name and the face because they’re not visible,” Mhlanga said.

“In the other regions, they’re promoting the young but here our politicians only enjoy giving these youths rides in their vehicles and end there. There will come a day when all these leaders will be old and there won’t be anyone to carry on.

“The old generation of leaders here don’t want to impart knowledge and empower the youths. It’s a generation of stingy leaders, stingy even with information. They don’t want to invest in grooming young people so that they become visible. While younger leaders in other regions have national clout, here there is none.”

But Zanu-PF politburo member Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu insists that Zanu-PF must stick to the Unity Accord, which he says reserves the posts of national chairman and second vice president for the PF-Zapu old guard.

Dr Ndlovu also rejects calls by a growing lobby within the party in Matabeleland which, while advocating that the two positions should remain reserved, insists that this must be on regional considerations and not old membership of PF-Zapu.

These reform advocates say the party and country could soon carry the burden of mediocre leaders — whose sole qualification for national positions is that they are merely former PF-Zapu members.

If they have their way, the race for the two positions would be opened wider with original Zanu members from the Matabeleland region, or those leaders who crossed the floor before the Accord, coming into contention. Some of the leaders who would be brought into play include Mines Minister Obert Mpofu and Information Minister Professor Jonathan Moyo.

But speaking yesterday, Prof Moyo told Chronicle he had no interest in making up “regional quotas”.

“The vice presidency is a national unity position and therefore the challenge is to find an incumbent who is as national as the authors of the Unity Accord intended, and this is clearly what was established by the late Vice President Joshua Nkomo, he was as national as they come,” Prof Moyo said.

“Joshua Nkomo did not get the post because of any regional considerations whatsoever, it was national considerations. He was followed in that regard by the late VP Joseph Msika and the late VP John Nkomo, the challenge now is to find someone of the same calibre.”
Cde Mpofu, meanwhile, said: “I’m not involved. I really have nothing to say about that.”

Dr Ndlovu says those advocating for a broader selection from the region were promoting tribalism in the party.

“They’re not thinking nationally. It’s from people who lack a revolutionary mindset,” he said. “PF-Zapu was a national party, so why would people want to regionalise it? Considering regionalism in this will result in other provinces saying they want their turn. I don’t want to be associated with such things.”

Dr Ndlovu said the PF-Zapu military wing, Zipra, operated in all parts of the country during the war of liberation and did not understand how “some would then want to confuse people.”

“We fought for Zimbabwe and when you’re a national leader, you must concentrate on the nation but at the same time look at the plight of people from your home area. If you then concentrate on provinces and regions, it’s dangerous because you are tribalising the leadership of a nation.”

Politburo member Cde Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo was more cautious, saying “the criteria are decided by the politburo”, adding: “I sit in the politburo and can only contribute in that platform but cannot, as an individual, talk about the criteria.”