FORMER MDC vice-president Obert Gutu, who recently defected to the ruling Zanu PF party, has been shortlisted as one of the 30 candidates to fill eight vacancies at the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC).
But analysts yesterday described Gutu’s nomination for the
NPRC as a tactic by government to reward him for defecting from the opposition
party to the ruling Zanu PF party.
The NPRC public interviews will be conducted by the
Parliament Standing Rules and Orders Committee on April 16 following the expiry
of the term of office of the outgoing commissioners.
Six ex-members of the commission have been shortlisted for
re-appointment and these include former deputy chairperson Lillian Chigwedere
and Leslie Dube, among others.
Another big name on the shortlist is former executive
director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Association, Okay Machisa.
Political analyst Alexander Rusero said Gutu’s shortlisting
was a political charade by Zanu PF to prove that if opposition members dumped
their parties in favour of the ruling party, they would be rewarded.
“Zanu PF is operating on the logic of making all people in
the opposition realise that there are dividends in joining Zanu PF rather than
opposing for eternity,” Rusero said.
“Constitutionally,
commissions are supposed to
be apolitical, but the reality of the
matter is that once you are serving in
those commissions, in one way or the other, you have partisan bias of Zanu PF.”
Rusero said Gutu’s shortlisting is testimony that if one
defects to Zanu PF, they automatically have a ticket for lucrative positions.
The commissioners have packages such as top-of-the-range cars and other benefits.
Some of the functions of the NPRC include ensuring
post-conflict justice, healing and reconciliation, as well as developing and
implementing programmes to promote national healing and peaceful conflict
resolution in the country. Newsday
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