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Michael Sata not coming to Bulawayo for Zanu-PF congress

by Staff reporter
19 Nov 2011 at 06:55hrs | Views
The victorious Patriotic Front of Zambia will send a high powered delegation to the Zanu-PF National People's Conference set for Bulawayo next month. However, the delegation will be the party secretary and two other senior members and not Machael Sata.

According to an official from President Michael Sata's office, the PF will send a delegation led by the party secretary general Wynter Kalimba.

Zanu-PF had invited the recently elected Zambian President Michael Sata to grace the occasion. The revolutionary party had, however, invited the Zambian leader before his Patriotic Front romped to victory against the Movement for Multi-Party Democracy. Zanu-PF would also host a conference for secretaries general from revolutionary parties in Southern Africa. President Sata's spokesperson Mr George Chella yesterday confirmed the latest development.

"The party would be represented at the highest level by the secretary general Mr Wynter Kalimba who would be accompanied by two senior members of the central committee," he said.

Mr Kalimba is a veteran politician and prominent Lusaka lawyer.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa yesterday confirmed that the party would convene the secretaries general conference for revolutionary parties on the sidelines of the conference.

Mutasa said six revolutionary parties, South Africa's ANC, Chama Cha Mapinduzi of Tanzania, Swapo of Namibia, Mozambique's Flerimo and the MPLA of Angola had already confirmed their participation.

"The secretaries general would be in Zimbabwe for our conference and the revolutionary parties meeting running concurrently with the conference," he said.

Mutasa, however, said the Patriotic Front's participation at the secretaries general meeting would have to be confirmed by the parties.

"Their participation is subject to discussion from the six parties because Unip represents Zambia in such cases but the secretaries general would engage on the issue," he said.

The six liberation movements from the Sadc region met for the first time in Dar es Salaam in May last year to exchange views on political, social and economic challenges facing their countries.

The liberation movements met again in Namibia and resolved to meet on the sidelines of annual Sadc summits.

The development would see the parties return to the centre of activities in the Sadc bloc created, initially as the Frontline States to assist the struggle for independence in the region.

Since they started meeting in Tanzania in 2010, the revolutionary meetings have been held a week before the Sadc summit and now the region's two most important dates on the political calendar could merge as of 2012.

Source - HeraldOnline