ZANU PF has been hit by fresh chaos, with the party’s highly divisive and recently restored District Co-ordinating Committees (DCCs) at the centre of the latest commotion.
The DCCs — which were scrapped in 2012 at the height of
Zanu PF’s factional, tribal and succession wars, in the twilight of the late
former president Robert Mugabe’s rule — are accused of usurping the powers of
other organs of the ruling party.
Insiders confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that the
DCCs had become “a major headache” in the party — prompting Zanu PF’s national
political commissar, Victor Matemadanda, pictured, to issue a stern warning
recently against the abuse of the structures.
This comes amid reports that the demons of factionalism
that gutted the ruling party during Mugabe’s last few years in power had
returned to the ranks of the former liberation movement with a vengeance. In a
March 15 circular to Zanu PF’s provincial and DCC chairpersons, Matemadanda
ordered the divisive structures to stop convening all unconstitutional meetings
forthwith.
“The commissariat department has noted with great concern
the abuse of office by the DCCs through the exercise of power and authority
that is not granted to them by the party’s constitution. “This circular is
designed and issued to correct and bring to an end all activities and decisions
that DCCs mistakenly believe are within their limits of discretion and directs
all members of the DCCs to note that with immediate effect no such decisions
and activities shall be permitted unless as directed by the commissariat
headquarters through the auspices of the provincial political commissar,” he
wrote.
Matemadanda also reminded the DCCs that they did not have
disciplinary powers and, therefore, “at no time should they undertake
disciplinary action against members of the district councils or any lower
organs”. “DCCs have no power of co-option and as such, any co-options that were
made under the direction or supervision of the DCCs remain unauthorised and
invalid.
“DCCs have no power to organise and cause elections of
district executive councils. Any elections conducted at the instigation and
supervision of the DCCs is null and void. “Removal of district executives
through a process of no confidence votes engineered by the DCCs is invalid,”
Matemadanda warned.
“DCCs have no power to create own programmes without
consultation with, and obtaining prior approval of the provincial political commissar.
“All purported campaigns for positions currently held by a sitting MP or local
authority councillor or a rural district councillor and or shadow MP are not
permitted. “Violations of instructions issued under this circular will not be
tolerated and may attract disciplinary action as appropriate,” Matemadanda
thundered further.
The DCC structures elect Zanu PF’s 10 provincial executives
— from where the party and President Emmerson Mnangagwa draw members of the
central committee and the politburo. The party’s DCCs were disbanded in 2012
after they were deemed to be fanning factionalism during Mnangagwa and former
vice president Joice Mujuru’s battles to succeed Mugabe.
The run-up to last year’s DCC polls was also marred by
allegations of bribery, factionalism and tribalism — with party wars coming to
a head in October when violent youths disrupted the former liberation
movement’s primary elections for the Kwekwe Central Parliamentary by-election.
Meanwhile, apart from having to contend with DCC chaos,
Zanu PF sources said the party was also facing fresh problems over “the long
overdue” elections for provincial chairmanships. The party’s regional
chairpersons lead the provincial co-ordinating committees (PCCs).
Divisions were particularly said to be ravaging five
provinces — Harare, Bulawayo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West and
Mashonaland Central — which are under interim chairpersons, who stand accused
of being sources of factional fights. With some PCCs having had interim
executives for more than five years, Zanu PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya
Moyo said the party’s restructuring exercise had been stalled by Covid-19.
“You may be aware that even the DCCs have not been inaugurated
yet and once we have contained the Covid-19 pandemic the process will continue.
“After that, the party will do the provinces. You cannot wake up in the middle
of a pandemic and start thinking about restructuring party structures. “All
that needs to be done will be concluded once the environment becomes
conducive,” Khaya Moyo told the Daily News.
In Mashonaland Central, current provincial chairperson
Kazembe Kazembe was said to be under pressure from several party officials —
including telecommunications mogul James Makamba, who is back in the country
after spending years in self-imposed exile in neighbouring South Africa.
Kazembe took over from Dickson Mafios in 2017. Kazembe told the Daily News
yesterday that elections would be held soon in the increasingly fractious
province.
“Provincial elections for the entire party throughout the
10 provinces, and not just Mashonaland Central, will be held anytime from now
and as directed by the national leadership.
“The provincial executive in Mashonaland Central is as old
as any other provincial executive in the entire Zanu PF. So, I don’t understand
why some people believe Mash Central is any different. “In any case all the
structures in the party except for the DCCs were voted into office around about
the same time,” Kazembe told the Daily News.
“Our cells … branches … districts, all the way up are due
for elections and the national commissariat will direct us as and when the
elections will be held. “All provincial members in Mash Central and all the other
provinces were either elected or co-opted in accordance with the constitution,”
he added. Other Zanu PF sources also told the Daily News that in Mashonaland
West, incumbent chairperson Ziyambi Ziyambi was also facing a stiff challenge
ahead of elections to choose the new provincial executive.
Ziyambi, who is also Justice minister, is said to be facing
competition from Provincial Affairs minister Mary Mliswa-Chikoka. In Harare and
Bulawayo, on the other hand, Godwills Masimirembwa and Obert Msindo were
appointed interim chairpersons respectively, after the dissolution of
structures for the two metropolitans in 2019 for allegedly being havens of
factionalism.
Masimirembwa is set to be challenged by former Mount
Pleasant MP Jason Pasade, Harare South MP Tongai Mnangagwa and land developer
Justin Zvandasara. Mashonaland East province, on the other hand, is chaired on
an interim basis by Michael Madanha — who replaced the late former Transport
minister Joel Biggie Matiza, who succumbed to Covid-19 early this year.
In the twilight of Mugabe’s rule, Generation 40 (G40)
kingpins coalesced around the nonagenarian’s erratic wife Grace, resulting in
the group being involved in a hammer and tongs tussle with Mnangagwa’s Team
Lacoste over Zanu PF’s still then unresolved succession question. Mugabe
subsequently fired Mnangagwa in early November 2017, before he came back to be
the country’s new leader following a stunning and widely-supported military
coup. Daily News
0 comments:
Post a Comment