Addressing delegates at the party’s annual conference in
Bindura, Charumbira, who was once taken to court for urging chiefs to support
Zanu PF, said “we come as owners of the party”.
“On behalf of all chiefs and headmen, I want to say, we are
together with Zanu PF,” Charmubira said.
“We got invited through a letter and that letter showed who
we are. We were invited as delegates, but if you go to the start, we are the
owners of Zanu PF.”
Chapter 15.2 of the Constitution forbids traditional
leaders from being members of any political party or in any way participate in
partisan politics, act in a partisan manner, further the interests of any
political party or cause or violate the fundamental rights and freedoms of any
person.
“We come as owners of the party, the reason for the
existence of Zanu PF is all about traditional leadership, and it is about
injustice,” Charumbira said.
“This party is ours, which is the truth. War veterans, you
fought the war, you are shareholders, but we are the owners, and others are
members, which is the truth.”
Traditional leaders have often been accused of forcing
their subjects to support Zanu PF during elections to the extent of threatening
to take away their land for supporting the opposition, or denying them
government-sourced food aid.
A fortnight ago, Zanu PF supporters in Charumbira’s village
in Masvingo attacked MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’s convoy during the
opposition leader’s tour of the province.
Charumbira yesterday pleaded with delegates at the Zanu PF
conference to uphold peace, saying the ongoing internecine fights in the ruling
party were a sad reminder of the late former President Robert Mugabe’s era of
violence and intolerance.
He played down the alleged power struggle between President
Emmerson Mnangagwa and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga, saying the alleged
fallout was a creation of ambitious party members angling to land key positions
leveraging on their proximity to the two leaders.
“The devil is working through you; there is a story that is
being cooked about the fight between President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his
deputy, it is very clear that they want to divide you,” Charumbira said.
“As I stand here, I think I am very senior in Zanu PF. I
worked with the President for a long time from when he was still a minister and
Chiwenga was still a soldier. Nobody can tell me lies that Chiwenga and
Mnangagwa don’t see eye to eye, that’s a lie. I know these people are very
close.”
He warned Zanu PF delegates to stop the divisive power
fights which threaten to raze the ruling party following recent violent
internal elections.
“This party is ours, we will correct it when it is going
astray. You are now having a lot of noise in the party. It hurts us when you
fight. This is our party.
“We are hurt when you beat each other. The spirit of the
new dispensation needs to be protected. You want to take us back to 15 years
ago by the way you conduct yourself in party affairs.
“The elections are the ones that are problematic, it is
bad, and it is really bad; this fighting is bad. I think the key thing is that
you should hold fair elections,” Charumbira said.
Chiwenga also read the riot act on party members he accused
of showing unbridled hunger for power, calling on them to toe the line.
“The unbridled hunger for power has no place in Zanu PF.
This must stop forthwith,” Chiwenga said.
“Those who think that Zanu PF will fall by the way side and
lose power must wake up and realise that it will not happen, otherwise they
will be left by the roadside.”
The statements by Charumbira and Chiwenga came weeks after
Mnangagwa admitted to the chaos in the ruling party, while addressing a
politburo meeting. He repeated the same remarks at the conference where he said
indiscipline had permeated all party structures.
The fights were laid bare recently across the country
during the Zanu PF restructuring exercise that saw bloody clashes between rival
factions. Mnangagwa was forced to postpone the provincial restructuring
programme following the clashes. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment