Mnangagwa threatens Zanu-PF members

PARTY leaders who were recently elected in District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections should follow the Zanu-PF constitution or risk expulsion if they engage in counterproductive plots, President Mnangagwa said.

Addressing hundreds of people, including Zanu-PF supporters at Jenya Secondary School in Chivi North after DCC chairpersons for all the seven districts in Masvingo had been introduced to him by the party national political commissar Victor Matemadanda, the President underscored the importance of unity in the revolutionary party.

"My message to those who were elected into the DCCs is that the party (Zanu-PF) has a constitution and that constitution must be followed. Those who will try to burn midnight candles trying to make plots and sub-plots will be suspended and expelled from the party. There is no room for such leaders in Zanu-PF. We do not countenance members who take issues outside the party, there are channels and procedures to be followed when members want redress," he said.

The President said the DCCs should strengthen the party, urging those who lost to graciously accept the results and work towards ensuring the party wins the 2023 elections resoundingly.

He chronicled the history of DCCs from the time when they were disbanded in 2014 until their revival in 2019.

"As you know we used to have DCCs some time back and when we were approaching party internal elections the chorus across the whole country within the DCCs was that they wanted Mnangagwa (to be party Vice President at the time) and those who were in control at that time said let's do away with them and they were disbanded," said President Mnangagwa.

"However, after that at our last party annual conference it was resolved that the DCCs be brought back. It's the people who said they must be brought back and the voice of the people is the voice of God, so the DCCs are back."

President Mnangagwa added that there is no need for genuine cadres to fight for positions as those who remain loyal would always be rewarded for their unwavering support and leadership. He said leaders who thought they were bigger than Zanu-PF would always be proved wrong, with those who will try to use their new positions in the revived DCCs to foment divisions going to be checkmated.

The Zanu-PF First Secretary reiterated the importance of unity and selfless sacrifice which was a hallmark of all yesteryear party greats and icons who took up arms to liberate the country.

"Every time there is a contest for positions within a party there is bound to be clashes and fights but at the end the winner should be humble enough to embrace the loser and say let us work together for the good of the party and the same applies to the loser, the loser should always be bold enough to work with the winner to take the party forward," he said.

"Loyal cadres always remain consistent and unwavering and the people will always reward them for that at the end, because they would have seen the track record of loyalty."

In his address at the same event, Matemadanda had warned Zanu-PF members across the country to refrain from creating fissures in the party over DCC polls, saying those with grievances should use party channels to air them.