A bid by Zanu PF hardliners to push for a constitutional
amendment that would have raised the age limit for presidential candidates to
52 years fell flat at the Zanu PF conference after the ruling party failed to
adopt the controversial resolution.
War veterans linked to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga
were the first to raise the age limit issue in the run-up to the conference
that ended in Esigodini, Matabeleland South, yesterday.
On the eve of the conference, the Zanu PF women’s league
announced that they would back the resolution that was largely seen as an
attempt to stop MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa from contesting the 2023
presidential elections.
Chamisa, who only assumed the leadership of the opposition
party following the death of former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in February
this year, narrowly lost to Mnangagwa in the July 30 polls.
The 40-year-old lawyer is disputing the Zanu PF leader’s
victory and claims the election was rigged.
Monica Mutsvangwa, the Zanu PF women’s league leader,
raised the age limit issue yesterday when she presented resolutions of the
thematic committee on women’s affairs.
However, the ruling party’s final resolutions presented by
Zanu PF chairperson of the documentation and legal committee, Jacob Mudenda,
were silent on the proposal to amend the constitution.
Mnangagwa also did not refer to the proposal in his closing
remarks yesterday where he spoke about modernising Zanu PF and nurturing
democracy in Zimbabwe.
Some of the resolutions of the two-day conference were that
Zanu PF must start campaigning for the 2023 elections.
Zanu PF also resolved to complete its on-going
restructuring exercise by the first quarter of next year.
“Conference resolves that the party should complete its
restructuring exercise from the cell right through to the provinces in 2019.
Those structures should then vigorously start campaigning for the party
immediately in preparation for the 2023 harmonised elections,” Mudenda said.
Zanu PF also resolved that the controversial national youth
service programme initiated by its late political commissar, Border Gezi,
should be revived by the end of March next year.
The ruling party also wants the national constitution
amended to extend the terms of the parliamentary women’s quota beyond 2023.
The quota was introduced in 2013 as part of efforts to
increase the number of women in Parliament. This saw the number of females in
the legislature surging from 18% to 30% over the past six years, although it
still falls far short of the 50-50 gender representation the women are
clamouring for.
Mudenda told the delegates that Zanu PF would from now have
its conference before the announcement of the national budget, which usually
happens in November.
The conference further resolved to pile pressure on government
to expedite the implementation of economic programmes, including the
construction of dams and setting up irrigation projects in every administrative
district in the country to boost national food security.
The party said the government must find a way of ending the
multi-currency system, which it said was the main reason for the current
economic downturn characterised by rising prices of consumer goods.
“Delegates urged government to expedite the solutions to
the current three-tier pricing system which has pushed prices too high,”
Mudenda said.
Zanu PF also wants an upward review of village heads’
monthly allowances.
Meanwhile, Mnangagwa repeated his claims that some
Zimbabweans were abusing the democratic space created by the ouster of former
president Robert Mugabe in November last year.
“We will guard against those who want to abuse this
democracy,” he said.
“This space of democracy must be enjoyed knowing that
respect of other people must continuously be entrenched.”
He said his party was on the move and would not be easily
shaken.
“Those who have ears must listen and with eyes must see
that Zanu PF is boldly on the move. We have an appointment with our destiny and
we will not miss it. Zanu PF will not be distracted or destroyed. It will prosper.”
Last month, MDC Alliance rolled out the biggest
post-election protest in Harare to register its opposition to the direction
Zanu PF was taking in addressing the economic crisis. Standard
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