THE ruling Zanu PF party is targeting chiefs, council bosses and their employees for indoctrination at the Hebert Chitepo School of Ideology to help drum up support ahead of the 2023 general elections.
An internal memorandum dated February 25, 2021 shows that
the party has been directed to recruit traditional leaders, council bosses and
employees for the party’s ideology indoctrination.
The ruling party said in order to create a strong bond
between the party and government, the district co-ordinating committee (DCC)
members would be trained together with Rural District Council (RDC)
chairpersons, chief executive officers, district development co-ordinators and
chiefs.
Chiefs, according to the Constitution, are supposed to be
apolitical, but have been abused by the ruling party in successive elections in
return for tokens of appreciation such as cars and cash allowances.
The memo, written by Chitepo School of Ideology principal
Munyaradzi Machacha to secretary for administration Obert Mpofu, stated that the
training would be part of the party’s strategy to mobilise five million votes
for Zanu PF ahead of the 2023 elections.
The letter was copied to party national chairperson Oppah
Muchinguri-Kashiri, secretary for finance Patrick Chinamasa, national commissariat,
secretary for national security and the secretary for transport and welfare,
among others.
Mpofu and Chief’s Council president Fortune Charumbira were
not picking calls yesterday when NewsDay tried to reach them on the matter. Zanu
PF national spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo referred all questions to Machacha.
“Why not call Machacha himself on that, I am sure he will
assist you,” Khaya Moyo said. Machacha did not deny that he authored the
document, but refused to comment.
“Why are you concerned with our party issues?” he asked. “Why
do you want to involve yourself in our internal affairs? My communication with
the party secretary has nothing to do with public interest. Whoever leaked that
document had no right to do that.”
The programme, the letter stated, was part of the district
co-ordinating committee training programme countrywide that was set to begin
during the second week of last month.
“This is a follow-up on the recently-elected DCC members
who should provide the necessary leadership on the soon to follow ward-based train-the-trainer
programme,” the memo further read in part.
“In order to create a strong bond between the party and
government, the DCC members will be trained with local government officials
comprising the party district co-ordination committees, chairman of the rural
district councils, chief executive officer of the RDCs, district development
coordinator and local chiefs.”
According to the training objectives, participants by end
of training should be able to: “Carry out vigorous mobilisation programmes
within their districts in order to achieve the five million voter population
for Zanu PF in 2023”.
“It is, therefore, against this background that this DCC
training programme is planned in such a manner that three districts will be
covered consecutively within three days. In this regard, the school looks
forward to necessary support from all stakeholders,” Machacha’s letter said.
The training programme, he said, was also meant to “create
synergy and bonding between the party DCC structure and local government
officials in pursuit of economic developmental goals in line with vision 2030.”
Harare Metropolitan province, which has already undergone
training at Dadaya National Youth Training Centre, will have to undergo “a
two-day concentrated training in order to synchronise them with their local
government officials using the same training template to be used in other nine
provinces”.
Zanu PF has been accused by the opposition of interference
in local authorities, but the ruling party has denied the claims.
Machacha added: “Priority will be given to Bulawayo, whose
DCCs’ leadership was first to be elected and has been on the ground for a
fairly long period.”
“DCC training is a necessary requirement since it is key as
we approach the 2023 harmonised elections. Team spirit, commitment to duty and
efficient management of time is expected from all stakeholders as we prepare
our party Zanu PF to register yet another resounding victory in the 2023
harmonised elections.”
Observers have raised the red flag over why Zanu PF was
targeting councils and municipal officials for indoctrination ahead of
elections, with former Foreign Affairs minister Walter Mzembi saying it is
another rigging ploy.
Mzembi, who is in exile in South Africa since the ouster of
the late former President Robert Mugabe via a military coup in November 2017,
took to microblogging site Twitter saying: “Zanu PF-government conflation is
2023 rigging in motion.” Newsday
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