Zanu-PF conference in Bulawayo, a failing attempt of political rebirth

While in their minds, the Zanu-PF people may think that they are celebrating over twenty five years of massacre of our people in Bulawayo by holding a non-event they call a conference in the city of kings, the writing is on the wall for all to see that this is indeed the last conference that this party holds while still a part of the government. The demise of Zanu-PF is now inevitable but has become an expectation to all right thinking Zimbabweans as the rising of the sun in the morning or the setting of the sun in the evening.

Judging by their misplaced confidence Zanu-PF people think that by having this conference in Bulawayo they may get a Lazarus moment and be brought back to life especially in Matabeleland where they have been facing defeat after defeat. One can also be forgiven for thinking that for a strange reason the Zanu-PF party by holding this event in the last capital of King Lobengula who is a stubborn symbol of resistance against white domination, a man who chose to die fighting than be condemned to servitude, unfortunately whose sons and daughters Zanu-PF tried to exterminate. It is the spirit of this great King that Zanu-PF is hoping and praying will come and give their ailing party a new lease of life in this venue as it inevitably face defeat from the opposition.

Is the their wish possible?, oh no no no never, Matabeleland in general and Bulawayo specifically has been very clear that Zanu-PF is the enemy that doesn't deserve their votes and the spirit of Lobengula, surely that of resistance can't and will not serve the interest of the oppressor which has become worse than that of the white settler regime. Am confident that gods of the land will indeed arise and quicken the demise of this party, for it is the wish and prayer of every Zimbabwean that the genocidist party must go, and must go yesterday.

The presence of the Zanu-PF Leadership in Bulawayo will not make the people change their resolve to fight the party but strengthen it as anyone can guess that the press of Mugabe, Mngawagwas and the Sekeramayis in the city will surely bring back the memories of the Gukurahundi times which painfully continue to linger and which continue to be transferred from generation to generation.

While the Zanu-PF conference speakers may try to do their traditional grand standing and posturing about the sweetness of economic empowerment and indigenisation, Bulawayo industry stand as a sad monument of failure of some of the Zanu-PF business people who came like an imperial force and bought the Bulawayo industry only to let it die. None needs to be reminded of the failures of the industries like ZECO and G and D shoes. We can't fail to remember the parastatals like CSC and NRZ which lie in a sad state to date because to the Zanu-PF party and its people they deployed to run them down while they got allowances and bonuses so high surpassing those of companies that were making profits.
While it has become convenient for Zanu-PF to use the name of Joshua Nkomo in an attempt to gain votes this whole week they will not be able to run away at least for a week from a number of Joshua Nkomo "statues" that stand to this day as a reminder of the cunning ways of Zanu-PF which has failed to fulfill or hook up with the vision of Father Zimbabwe yet on daily basis claim to be pursuing his dream while the glaring truth which is evident to all and sundry is that that Zanu-PF is a bunch of crooks who have robbed, killed and raped our country of its resources be it human or other natural resources for their selfish gain.

The first uncompleted statue they will come across along Main Street or should I say the Joshua Nkomo street is that of Father Zimbabwe. This failure to complete the erection of this statue is not only an insult to the family but to us all as a country that drew and continues to draw inspiration to the great works of umdala wethu. So for the whole week in the city the Zanu-PF elite together with their prefects in the region who failed and betrayed our people will hide their heads in shame as they can't afford to talk of the commander in chief of the revolutionary ZIPRA while they can't finish the structure which will stand as a reminder of this great leader.

The second neglected work of Joshua Nkomo being not only the Ekusileni Hospital but also all other captured properties of NITRAM Holdings that were grabbed by the Zanu-PF party, these espouse the great vision of economic empowerment that the great leader had. Nkomo provided a platform where people would pull their resources together and invest on their own. He never grabbed anything from anyone like what Zanu-PF has done. He was a leader who believed in hard work, he never wanted to reap where he did not so, unfortunately the Zanu party grabbed all that before they proceeded to do the same to the whites but by then the international community saw and heard no evil.

The biggest statue that continues to haunt Zanu-PF to this day is the leadership of Joshua Nkomo, they have tried and continue to fail to provide this leadership. He is the commander who carried the first arms of war for the guerrillas himself, he never preferred a tie and suit but was a trained military person. He was a leader who never hid behind intellectualism to manipulate and oppress colleagues, populace and opponents yet he was an intellectual in his own right.

He believed in the democratic systems found in a political party it was for that reason that even before the Zanu-PF split when the Zanu-PF people ran away from Zapu congress at Cold comfort farm to form a splinter party in Enos Nkala house at high field. As Zanu-PF gathers today for its conference the bootlickers after the other will take turns to praise its failing leadership. None will raise his hand isn't that an insult to the leadership of the great son of the region.

Having said this in a nutshell the Zanu-PF conference will be a big non-event, a confirmation that there is still yet to be revolutionaries within Zanu-PF who will prefer to be with the people than to be in the side of those that butter their small slices while the nation suffers. No matter how many times they come and posture and grandstand in the region no one takes them serious and none will especially today and worse still in Matabeleland.

Gifford Sibanda writes from Bubi District in Matabeleland North Province.