ZANU PF has threatened to disqualify its members who are campaigning for top positions in its structures ahead of internal elections set for next month before being given the greenlight by the party leadership.
Party leaders are reportedly struggling to control raging
factionalism in the party as members jostle for positions.
Addressing the media after a politburo meeting on Saturday,
Zanu PF acting political commissar Patrick Chinamasa said some party members
were undermining sitting Members of Parliament (MPs) as they had already
started campaigning to displace them in the 2023 polls.
He said jostling of positions within the party was
disrupting its drive to mobilise five million supporters for the election in
two years’ time.
Last month, Chinamasa ordered party bigwigs to stop
co-opting of party members to fill in vacant provincial and district positions
following indications that the cherry picking of members was widening rifts
within the party.
On Saturday, he said the party’s restructuring exercise,
aimed at addressing leadership gaps at lower structures, was in progress at
branch levels throughout the country.
“The politburo also directed that until the central
committee meets and declares 2023 election campaigns open, comrades must
respect sitting party MPs and stop campaigning as if there were vacancies,”
Chinamasa said.
“They are free to campaign where there are vacancies. We
also gave a report to inform the politburo where these vacancies are. But where
there are sitting MPs, we are saying those who are aspiring to stand in for
2023, the time is not yet ripe.
“If they continue to disturb and undermine sitting MPs, we
will not hesitate to disqualify them from contesting come 2023. The focus at
the moment should be on membership mobilisation. The task before us is to grow
our membership to five million and not to jockey for positions which are
occupied anyway.”
The politburo also took a swipe at some of its legislators
who were reportedly misusing community development funds.
“The politburo raised concerns on the manner in which some
MPs are handling community development funds, which should complement the
developmental programmes underscored in the National Development Strategy 1,”
Chinamasa said.
“It was reported that some MPs were yet to draw down on the
funds to (carry out) development work in their respective constituencies.
Politburo directs that this should stop forthwith and swift measures must be
taken to correct this anomaly.”
The party, however, refused to take questions from the media
after the briefing. Newsday
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