'No individual is bigger than Zanu-PF'

The Zanu-PF Central Committee elections which started recently have seen some big wigs falling by the wayside with new members coming aboard through winning of some elections. Some of the big wigs faced the same fate of exiting their Central Committee positions through some votes of no confidence which of late swept through the ruling party across the country, some few days ago.

The events unfolding in the ruling party are some of the issues which have become the talk of the town and one rarely gets a media house in the country without reporting what is taking place in Zanu-PF. Some prophets of doom are now pointing to the demise of Zanu-PF with the real supporters of this revolutionary party welcoming the move as good since it is intended to prune those not fit to remain in the leadership echelons.

It is a fact that what has transpired and still taking place in the ruling party has taken the country by surprise as people have started witnessing the downfall of the once powerful Zanu-PF senior members who hitherto thought that they were bigger than the party. Some even used to boast to their supporters saying that they were as strong as concrete when it comes to cementing their stay in the Central Committee echelon. Their sudden fall has been received by surprise by those who had also bought into the idea that there are some permanent members in the Zanu-PF Central Committee.

Some people should not be surprised with what is happening in the ruling party as it is common in any organisation when it is taking the route of reforming itself. In actual fact people should welcome the new developments that are taking place and then treat them as some lessons which could be used in future for the development of any organisation. Such developments are quite good as they are done to get rid of those who always wanted to monopolize the Zanu-PF affairs and treating it as their personal possessions.

The recent removal of the provincial chairpersons around the country through some votes of no confidence on them, as they were found to be guilt of fanning factionalism, instead of uniting the Zanu-PF members, is a welcome development that would unite the party stronger than what it was. People should learn to appreciate that there is no individual who is bigger than the organisation.

If one asks people like, Dr. Simba Makoni, the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) leader, Job Sikhala the then MDC99 leader, Dr. Dumiso Dabengwa, revived ZAPU leader and others who thought they can do it alone would boldly confess that all that glitters is not gold. They would confess that it is not easy to leave any party for personal aggrandizements. These people tried their luck outside their main political parties but as I write this article all these people are no longer strong and respected as they used to be. They have become the laughing stoke of the Zimbabwean people and even by the international community.

People still remember how Dr Simba Makoni had respect from everyone with a lot of people tipping him that he would take over from President Robert Mugabe once the President has called it quit. But with those who misled him into believing than he was bigger than Zanu-PF, Dr Makoni opted out and formed his MKD which has now been condemned into historical books with nothing to show.

Today, Dr Makoni has lost respect among those who thought that his intellectual power would be used amicably in saving the country diligently. Now he is ruing the day he thought of damping Zanu-PF in favour of his MKD. He is further cursing that day why it ever came across his mind to mislead him into ideas of leaving Zanu-PF, as he is now, no longer near the personality of Dr Makoni who once headed the whole of the SADC region as the Executive Secretary. Dr Makoni is contemplating going back to Zanu-PF, although now he is finding it difficult to do so, as there is noone from the revolutionary party courting him to do that.

It was the same story with Dr Dumiso Dabengwa, the former ZIPRA intelligence Supremo who thought that reviving ZAPU legacy through dumping Zanu-PF would bring food on his table but alas he is finding the move difficult and the only move he can do is rejoining Zanu-PF in order to regain his lost status. Dr Dabengwa who could have been now facing his elevation to be the Vice President of Zimbabwe in the oncoming Zanu-PF, December 2014, Elective Congress, due to his seniority in the original ZAPU political matrix is now in a dilemma on what to do in order to remain relevant in the political sphere of Zimbabwe.

We cannot talk of Job Sikhala who had seen it all, that surviving outside the main organization, is untenable as he has already rejoined his former leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, although the move seems to be not the best anyway. It is not the best because the MDC-T is also in shambles because of the maladministration of its founder leader, Morgan Boycott Tsvangirai, who has destroyed the once formidable opposition party because of his lust for power and dictatorial moves which led his two former secretary generals, Prof Welshman Ncube and Tendai Biti deserting him and forming their own political parties.

The real facts on the ground are that people should not shade their tears over those who have been dumped in elections by their respective provinces to be members in the next Central Committee. People should join hands in celebrating with those who have managed to get tickets to represent their provinces as Central Committee members. It is an open secret that those who have lost Central Committee elections will be ordinary card holding members but that does not mean that one ceases to be a member of this revolutionary party.

Since its formation in 1963, Zanu-PF has had a lot of dignitaries who jumped off the train but the revolutionary party has never run out of capable members to lead it until to this day. The failure to get tickets into the Central Committee set up by such people like the Secretary for Administration Cde Didymus Mutasa, politburo member Nicholas Goche, Ray Kaukonde former Mashonaland East provincial Chairman, Ambassador John Mvundura, former Manicaland provincial chairperson and others who used to hold high ranks in the party should not destroy it but should only be welcomed by everyone and taken as a big move meant to bring in other new members to the fold. People should realize that Zanu-PF is bigger than individuals and in that there is no sacred goats when it comes to the revolutionary party's ways of running its affairs.