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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
ZANU-PF Matabeleland North Provincial leadership meets in Lupane today to, among other issues, speed up the process of setting up cells.

A cell is the smallest structure in the party and is made up of 50 members, who then make up party branches, each made up of 10 cells.

Every member of the party including those in the Central Committee or Politburo is mandated to be a member of a cell.

The party’s provincial chairman Cde Richard Moyo said the province is running out of time with the deadline for submission of cells to the national commissariat office fast approaching.

The revolutionary party set end of this month as deadline for submission of comprehensive cells to the head office.

“We have a provincial executive committee meeting tomorrow (today) where we expect to get reports from districts about the process of setting up cells,” said Cde Moyo.

The province intends to establish about 6 000 cells before the end of this month as the revolutionary party starts preparing for next year’s elections.

“We are pushing to meet the deadline when the national commissar wants the information and the deadline is end of March,” Cde Moyo said.

Asked whether the province will be able to meet the deadline and its target of establishing 6 000 cells, Cde Moyo said: “We will see what we can do. Our target is  6 000 and we may as well beat that.”

He said reaching the 6 000 target would ensure victory for the party in the province in next year’s elections.

Cde Moyo recently told party members at a provincial coordinating committee in Lupane that the revolutionary party’s focus this year is on establishing cells. Meanwhile, Politburo member Cde Thokozile Mathuthu, who is also Hwange senator, says the party’s Women’s Affairs Secretary Dr Grace Mugabe is considering the province’s request for her to hold a rally in Hwange district.

The province recently appealed to the First Lady to hold a rally in Hwange to rejuvenate the party for the district to perform well in next year’s elections.

Cde Mathuthu, who is also the Deputy Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, had promised to approach the First Lady on behalf of the province.

“I definitely invited her and she told me that she will look into her programme to see if she has space,” said Cde Mathuthu.

She said Dr Mugabe is willing to hold a rally in Hwange as part of her countrywide rallies but that’s subject to availability of time since she had already planned her programme.

“She is willing to go to every part of the country, not only in Hwange but wherever people want to see her. All we can do is wait for her,’ said Cde Mathuthu.

— @ncubeleon