Opinion / Columnist
The NPC needs to unite the feuding ZANU PF
06 Apr 2016 at 10:12hrs | Views
Reading different newspapers in both the private and public media houses on a daily basis, one never misses the reports that allegedly show that there is chaos and division among ZANU PF members and supporters who are allegedly fighting on factional sides to succeed President Robert Mugabe when he calls it quit.
Headlines like: ZANU PF abusing war veterans-Dailynews 19 March 2016, Msipa rips into Mugabe, The Standard 3 April 2016, Mugabe savages Lacoste war vets, Dailynews on Sunday 3-9 April 2016, War vets dare Mugabe-Newsday 4 April 2016, Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe-Dailynews 4 April 2016, Kasukuwere comes out guns blazing, The Herald 4 April 2016, ZANU PF in series of indabas-The Herald 5 April 2016 and all other headlines not mentioned here show the gloomy picture of what is happening in the revolutionary party ZANU PF. The situation as portrayed by the newspapers is that ZANU PF is in the brink of collapse hence the immediate remedial actions are needed to thwart that threat of division within the party.
The revolutionary party has been dogged with allegations of mistrust and divisions coming from its members and supporters against its leadership with the war vets cited as people who are said to be on the receiving end from those in leadership. On the other hand those in leadership view the war vets as abusing their positions in the party by claiming to be treated differently from other members and supporters of the revolutionary party. War vets are said to be not towing the line that they are expected to follow by the leadership as they are allegedly fighting to make sure ZANU PF leadership is renewed.
As such the war vets are said to be fighting on the corner of the so called team Lacoste in a battle to succeed President Mugabe when he calls it quit. On the other hand the so called G40 is allegedly fighting against team Lacoste on the same mission to succeed President Mugabe. So the revolutionary party is in a tag of war which needs its leadership to reign into it as to save the party from the total collapse.
The situation on the ground which the media takes it as juice cannot be left to flourish as the opposition political parties could be celebrating all their ways to the 2018 harmonised elections. ZANU PF has got the National Political Commissar (NPC) in form of Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and it is the duty of this man to make sure that the party is kept intact. Cde Kasukuwere`s position should be regarded as that of the godfather and peacemaker in ZANU PF who is supposed to unite the warring factional parties.
As National Political Commissar of the ruling party, Cde Kasukuwere should make sure that those fighting on factional lines to create fictitious vacancies are told to stop it and tow the ideology and principles of the party. He should not be seen to be aligned to any one of the factions fighting to take dominance of the ruling party. His position in the party should be that of someone who has a father figure-head in which if two children of his are fighting he should only chips in to restrain them as an intermediator and give them a fatherly love so that in future they are not going to fight again. He should not take sides.
It is good for Cde Kasukuwere to make sure that ZANU PF remains united. He should avoid being viewed by another factional side as aligned to another one fighting to succeed President Robert Mugabe as well. The issue of team Lacoste and G40 which are allegedly fighting to succeed President Mugabe when he calls it quit should be informed to wait for an appropriate time that will come may be at the 2019 National People`s Congress where new leadership of the party would be elected to stand for the 2023 harmonised elections. Cde Kasukuwere`s duty is to make the two factions to stop their political shenanigans so that the revolutionary party remains united. It is clearly known that President Mugabe has been elected by the December 2014 National People`s Congress to be the ZANU PF candidate for the 2018 presidential elections and that position must be clearly be spelt out to the warring factional parties so that the party remains intact. They need to be educated on that by the NPC.
The situations in which Cde Kasukuwere has been accused by the other faction as targeting the one in which he is allegedly not in favour of creates divisions and mistrusts within the party. It has been reported in some media houses that in one of the rallies across the country he was heard saying that the "gloves are now off", indicating that he was ready to fight against another party which is going against what he perceives to be right in favour of the one he is perceived to be leading. Such a move if true was very unfortunate as Cde Kasukuwere should not be taking sides in those factional fights. He should unite the party instead of dividing it by taking sides. Actually Cde Kasukuwere must stand like President Mugabe who is supporting neither any faction there.
Cde Kasukuwere need to realise that he is the centre of all ZANU PF activities and if the party happens to be defeated in the 2018 harmonized elections, he would remain in the ZANU PF history books as the worst Political Commissar ever to grace that position. While it is necessary to carry out disciplinary actions against those members of the ruling party found on the wrong side of ZANU PF but Cde Kasukuwere should not single handedly carry out suspensions without the authority of the National Disciplinary Committee which has the prerogative to deal with miscellaneous acts within the party.
The NPC should make sure that he cannot issue statements that are viewed by those against his preferred faction as derogatory and decisive. While he might not agree with this writer that he belongs to another faction but allegations from the so called Team Lacoste fronted by mostly the war vets is that he has soft spot to the G40 faction making his judgement of the factional wars in the ruling party questionable.
Cde Kasukuwere`s handling of the Midlands and Masvingo as well as Mashonaland East fiascos recently allegedly left a lot to be desired. When he suspended Cdes Kizito Chivamba, Ezra Chadzamira and Joe Biggie Matiza as provincial Chairpersons of Midlands, Masvingo and Mashonaland East respectively on allegations that they mobilised ZANU PF supporters to snub President Mugabe`s AU welcome rally in Harare it left those affected with more questions than answers. Some people expected him to pick their deputies as acting provincial chairpersons but to the public`s surprise Cde Kasukuwere chose to handpick his preferred candidates to fill such vacancies leaving supporters of those affected snubbing his instructions which nearly overshadowed the Masvingo hosting of the 21st February Movement celebrations recently.
Such a move could have been corrected if Cde Kasukuwere had left everything to the NDC to deal with such cases decisively. So Cde Kasukuwere could still make sure that the party remains united by avoiding himself to act as if he is fighting for the supremacy of another faction over another instead of uniting both. He should desist from issuing statements that seem to be targeted to another faction. Actually he needs to make sure that the party is united so that the emergency of the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) is neutralised. Divisions within the ruling party could make ZimPF stronger than unexpected as those who would be disgruntled could seek their political survival in that party.
Headlines like: ZANU PF abusing war veterans-Dailynews 19 March 2016, Msipa rips into Mugabe, The Standard 3 April 2016, Mugabe savages Lacoste war vets, Dailynews on Sunday 3-9 April 2016, War vets dare Mugabe-Newsday 4 April 2016, Crisis as war vets defy Mugabe-Dailynews 4 April 2016, Kasukuwere comes out guns blazing, The Herald 4 April 2016, ZANU PF in series of indabas-The Herald 5 April 2016 and all other headlines not mentioned here show the gloomy picture of what is happening in the revolutionary party ZANU PF. The situation as portrayed by the newspapers is that ZANU PF is in the brink of collapse hence the immediate remedial actions are needed to thwart that threat of division within the party.
The revolutionary party has been dogged with allegations of mistrust and divisions coming from its members and supporters against its leadership with the war vets cited as people who are said to be on the receiving end from those in leadership. On the other hand those in leadership view the war vets as abusing their positions in the party by claiming to be treated differently from other members and supporters of the revolutionary party. War vets are said to be not towing the line that they are expected to follow by the leadership as they are allegedly fighting to make sure ZANU PF leadership is renewed.
As such the war vets are said to be fighting on the corner of the so called team Lacoste in a battle to succeed President Mugabe when he calls it quit. On the other hand the so called G40 is allegedly fighting against team Lacoste on the same mission to succeed President Mugabe. So the revolutionary party is in a tag of war which needs its leadership to reign into it as to save the party from the total collapse.
The situation on the ground which the media takes it as juice cannot be left to flourish as the opposition political parties could be celebrating all their ways to the 2018 harmonised elections. ZANU PF has got the National Political Commissar (NPC) in form of Cde Saviour Kasukuwere and it is the duty of this man to make sure that the party is kept intact. Cde Kasukuwere`s position should be regarded as that of the godfather and peacemaker in ZANU PF who is supposed to unite the warring factional parties.
As National Political Commissar of the ruling party, Cde Kasukuwere should make sure that those fighting on factional lines to create fictitious vacancies are told to stop it and tow the ideology and principles of the party. He should not be seen to be aligned to any one of the factions fighting to take dominance of the ruling party. His position in the party should be that of someone who has a father figure-head in which if two children of his are fighting he should only chips in to restrain them as an intermediator and give them a fatherly love so that in future they are not going to fight again. He should not take sides.
The situations in which Cde Kasukuwere has been accused by the other faction as targeting the one in which he is allegedly not in favour of creates divisions and mistrusts within the party. It has been reported in some media houses that in one of the rallies across the country he was heard saying that the "gloves are now off", indicating that he was ready to fight against another party which is going against what he perceives to be right in favour of the one he is perceived to be leading. Such a move if true was very unfortunate as Cde Kasukuwere should not be taking sides in those factional fights. He should unite the party instead of dividing it by taking sides. Actually Cde Kasukuwere must stand like President Mugabe who is supporting neither any faction there.
Cde Kasukuwere need to realise that he is the centre of all ZANU PF activities and if the party happens to be defeated in the 2018 harmonized elections, he would remain in the ZANU PF history books as the worst Political Commissar ever to grace that position. While it is necessary to carry out disciplinary actions against those members of the ruling party found on the wrong side of ZANU PF but Cde Kasukuwere should not single handedly carry out suspensions without the authority of the National Disciplinary Committee which has the prerogative to deal with miscellaneous acts within the party.
The NPC should make sure that he cannot issue statements that are viewed by those against his preferred faction as derogatory and decisive. While he might not agree with this writer that he belongs to another faction but allegations from the so called Team Lacoste fronted by mostly the war vets is that he has soft spot to the G40 faction making his judgement of the factional wars in the ruling party questionable.
Cde Kasukuwere`s handling of the Midlands and Masvingo as well as Mashonaland East fiascos recently allegedly left a lot to be desired. When he suspended Cdes Kizito Chivamba, Ezra Chadzamira and Joe Biggie Matiza as provincial Chairpersons of Midlands, Masvingo and Mashonaland East respectively on allegations that they mobilised ZANU PF supporters to snub President Mugabe`s AU welcome rally in Harare it left those affected with more questions than answers. Some people expected him to pick their deputies as acting provincial chairpersons but to the public`s surprise Cde Kasukuwere chose to handpick his preferred candidates to fill such vacancies leaving supporters of those affected snubbing his instructions which nearly overshadowed the Masvingo hosting of the 21st February Movement celebrations recently.
Such a move could have been corrected if Cde Kasukuwere had left everything to the NDC to deal with such cases decisively. So Cde Kasukuwere could still make sure that the party remains united by avoiding himself to act as if he is fighting for the supremacy of another faction over another instead of uniting both. He should desist from issuing statements that seem to be targeted to another faction. Actually he needs to make sure that the party is united so that the emergency of the Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF) is neutralised. Divisions within the ruling party could make ZimPF stronger than unexpected as those who would be disgruntled could seek their political survival in that party.
Source - John Mukumbo
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