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Felex Share Harare Bureau
THE purported succession tiff between the First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is fictitious and the pair should continue driving forward the Zanu-PF agenda, President Robert Mugabe said yesterday.

Addressing the 99th Ordinary Session of the Zanu-PF Central Committee in Harare, President Mugabe said the imagined factions were a creation of “thankless minds” in opposition parties and the private media.

He said despite the uncharitable attacks, VPs Mnangagwa and Phelekezela Mphoko together with the Zanu-PF Women’s Affairs secretary should “acclimatise to the heat-wave of criticism” and continue mobilising resources for an economic turnaround within the Zim-Asset policy parameters.

“They (opposition parties and private media) have nothing to talk about so they will create something,” President Mugabe said.

“It’s Mnangagwa and the First Lady going at each other in order to take care of themselves before what they call succession. It may be also some women in Manicaland said to be going for each other for the dominance of the province or perhaps in support of the fictitious factions of Mnangagwa on one hand and the First Lady on the other. Yes, we get annoyed and irritated by those allegations made against us but what do you expect to get from the opposition and its sponsors? They’ve no programmes to sell to the people, no ideas any more to talk about.”

He added: “But we were not born yesterday and so, we know how to take these jibes, allegations and lies that are manufactured every night and published every morning.

“We take them for what they’re — rubbish for the dustbin!”

President Mugabe said the countrywide tours by the First Lady had kept the revolutionary party alive and vibrant.

He said the tours showed that there was “no sleeping in-between elections and vegetating in Zanu-PF.”

“There is always work to do,” he said. “We all know from the days of the struggle that when challenges mount, when people face hurdles, this is the time to be with them.

“That’s the Zanu-PF way and the party must go to the village to be at one with the hungry, to be at one with the farmers. We’re there to serve our people and we’re doing our best despite our limited capacity. We might not have enough food to feed their stomachs but survive, they will.”

President Mugabe called on the youths to respect the party hierarchy and stop taking party issues to the private media.

This comes after Mashonaland Central youth leader Cde Godfrey Tsenengamu was given a vote of no confidence last Saturday and granted an interview to the private media the following day attacking the party’s senior leadership.

Said President Mugabe: “Let’s also respect decisions and procedures of the party.

“We have witnessed lower organs of the party or cadres leading them, challenging superior organs appointed to lead them. Such actions amount to insubordination and indeed a challenge to authority.

“Akin to such indiscipline is an unstructured interaction with hostile sections of the media. That’s indiscipline at its worst. As we criticise the youngsters, it’s us the elders who write or tell the opposition papers some of these stories trying to embarrass our colleagues, trying to discredit them. That has to stop.”

President Mugabe said the party had “one mouth” and anyone with grievances should use the normal channel for redress.

“When you speak without authority of that mouth, you’re not serving the party but the enemy,” he said.

“When you speak through a channel hostile to the party, Newsday, Standard or any other rubbish paper you’re not defending the party.

“You are giving substance to the enemy. Keep even the bitterest of attacks against you and find an opportunity to clear yourself within closed doors.

“It’s not that we are afraid of the outside to know what we’re doing. We don’t want the enemy to have ammunition with which they will seek to destroy the party. If you’re doing it stop it!”

He said Zanu-PF would always be there as long as people existed and the recent by-election victories were a sign of how solid the party was as a result of the restructuring exercise by the commissariat department.

“We’re the bull in the cattle kraal but we should never allow complacency to overtake us.

“Let’s remain on our toes, moving and meeting with the people.”

President Mugabe said the vast natural resources around the country should be the weapon of transforming the economy.

He said it was the responsibility of every party member to ensure the 15th Annual National People’s Conference was a success.

The conference, slated for Victoria Falls, will run from December 7 to 13.