News / National
Chinamasa and Goche's liberation struggle credentials questioned: ZANU
17 Jun 2011 at 11:48hrs | Views
ZANU-PF negotiators, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche, have defied their party and forged ahead with progressive reforms in ongoing negotiations aimed at paving the way for undisputed elections.
There are reports that some ZANU-PF hardliners have already started mobilising against Chinamasa and Goche with the intention of passing a vote of no confidence against the party's negotiators.
A case is being built around the fact that the two party cadres had not participated in the liberation struggle that brought about Zimbabwe's independence from colonial rule in 1980.
"Hardliners within the party are also beginning to question Chinamasa and Goche's credentials during the liberation struggle and within the party," said a source.
There were indications that some were even suggesting that the two could have been compromised by regime change elements within the opposition movement bent on unseating President Robert Mugabe from power.
Chinamasa and Goche have, however, maintained their course despite being caught in the eye of a storm over a number of concessions deemed to be at variance with the party's position reached during talks with the other negotiators from the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.
Some of the issues ZANU-PF opposed included the development of an election roadmap and media reforms that were branded as illegal. Knives were also out for Chinamasa when he said he believed that it was no longer possible to hold polls this year.
ZANU-PF later released a position paper last month on polls, part of which read: "As a party, we maintain that the GPA (Global Political Agreement) remains the only election roadmap. We are totally against the idea of a new election roadmap as it means re-negotiating the GPA instead of implementing it."
But despite spirited attempts to coerce its negotiators to deviate from reforms, information gathered this week showed that the two have stuck to their positions despite sharp criticisms from their party.
For the past week, Chinamasa has refused to comment on GPA issues.
Lindiwe Zulu, President Jacob Zuma's international relations advisor, confirmed that all negotiators have not deviated from their agreed positions, including the issue of a roadmap that ZANU-PF opposes.
"The negotiators have not renounced anything. Nobody has renounced what was adopted. When we met, none of them had any complaints, except on outstanding issues," said Zulu.
She added that the facilitation team was now pushing for the implementation of outstanding issues. The fact that ZANU-PF negotiators have not renounced their previous position flies in the face of claims by the party's spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, that Chinamasa was now toeing the party line.
"There is no change to the position taken by the party. We have realigned the position with what Cde Chinamasa has and what he has said is now water under the bridge," said Gumbo, who earlier described Chinamasa's public pronouncement that an election was now impossible this year as "personal opinion".
There are reports that some ZANU-PF hardliners have already started mobilising against Chinamasa and Goche with the intention of passing a vote of no confidence against the party's negotiators.
A case is being built around the fact that the two party cadres had not participated in the liberation struggle that brought about Zimbabwe's independence from colonial rule in 1980.
"Hardliners within the party are also beginning to question Chinamasa and Goche's credentials during the liberation struggle and within the party," said a source.
There were indications that some were even suggesting that the two could have been compromised by regime change elements within the opposition movement bent on unseating President Robert Mugabe from power.
Chinamasa and Goche have, however, maintained their course despite being caught in the eye of a storm over a number of concessions deemed to be at variance with the party's position reached during talks with the other negotiators from the two Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations.
Some of the issues ZANU-PF opposed included the development of an election roadmap and media reforms that were branded as illegal. Knives were also out for Chinamasa when he said he believed that it was no longer possible to hold polls this year.
ZANU-PF later released a position paper last month on polls, part of which read: "As a party, we maintain that the GPA (Global Political Agreement) remains the only election roadmap. We are totally against the idea of a new election roadmap as it means re-negotiating the GPA instead of implementing it."
But despite spirited attempts to coerce its negotiators to deviate from reforms, information gathered this week showed that the two have stuck to their positions despite sharp criticisms from their party.
For the past week, Chinamasa has refused to comment on GPA issues.
Lindiwe Zulu, President Jacob Zuma's international relations advisor, confirmed that all negotiators have not deviated from their agreed positions, including the issue of a roadmap that ZANU-PF opposes.
"The negotiators have not renounced anything. Nobody has renounced what was adopted. When we met, none of them had any complaints, except on outstanding issues," said Zulu.
She added that the facilitation team was now pushing for the implementation of outstanding issues. The fact that ZANU-PF negotiators have not renounced their previous position flies in the face of claims by the party's spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, that Chinamasa was now toeing the party line.
"There is no change to the position taken by the party. We have realigned the position with what Cde Chinamasa has and what he has said is now water under the bridge," said Gumbo, who earlier described Chinamasa's public pronouncement that an election was now impossible this year as "personal opinion".
Source - FinGaz
