Zanu-PF conference; a national tragedy

The Zanu-PF's wasteful carnival came to a close over the weekend and again it was a waste of national resources.

The whole fiesta cost a whopping US$6 million at a time when over 3 million citizens face massive starvation country wide, a high number of ZUPCO buses cancelled their routes as they embarked on the long journey to Victoria Falls at a huge expense to tax payers whose money sustain the operations of this moribund parastatal.

To add insult to injury, Zanu-PF came up with the most bizarre of resolutions which have served as further proof that the dilapidated ruling party lacks the competence and will to resolve the national crisis.

The myriad of the resolutions which were released at the collusion of this national tragic-comedy depict the sad picture of a group of men and women so drunk in the pursuit of power for its own sake so much that they have a complete disregard of the national interest.

What is further shocking was the heavy military presence at the venue of a private function. The presence of the top military brass as well as a large military deployment laid bare the thin arguments of the ruling party propaganda machinery, which has dismissed the growing calls for security sector reforms.

So bad is the situation with regard to security sector involvement in civilian affairs such that Robert Mugabe himself complained of the defence forces' participation in the party's factional fights.

If therefore the securocrats are so deeply involved in the Zanu-PF wars, one wonders how involved they will be when the very national leadership question is at stake. We have always argued that in order for Zimbabwe to move forward politics and government institutions must be demilitarized and the sights of hundreds of soldiers carrying guns and manning various outposts to the venue is far from encouraging.

The irony of the military involvement is that President Mugabe actually took the opportunity of the conference to demean genuine war veterans who sacrificed a lot for the liberation of the country and many who have since quit active politics in Zanu-PF due to the party's deviation from the liberation ethos.

As the PDP we, therefore, reiterate our position in the Agenda for Restoration and Rehabilitation of Electoral Sustainability (ARREST) that institutions of government must be completely demilitarized especially the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) which is central to the conduct of a free and fair election.

Furthermore, the heavy military involvement in politics at party level and national level spell doom for the country and give credence to our call for a National Transitional Authority (NTA)to avert a disaster that is waiting to happen when President Mugabe exists power via natural means.

We therefore call on all progressive Zimbabweans to come together and begin working towards a national convergence and thus set a platform for the NTA going into the future. If progressive citizens in civic society, the student movement, the workers, and the church and opposition political parties fail to come together then Zimbabwe is at the risk of technical coup where the military will determine, albeit in an undemocratic and unconstitutional manner, who will succeed Mr Mugabe and thus set the framework of the 2018 elections.

It is therefore critical that as a nation we take stock and work to stop a slide into fascist rule that will only make our problems get worse. Now is the time for Zimbabweans to take the fight for our country to Zanu-PF and we must never compromise our demand for another Zimbabwe which is economically strong, just and fair for all.