Zanu-PF using ‘spider-web’ campaign strategy: Rugeje
RM: Your appointment as ZANU-PF national political commissar was hailed by war veterans and other party membership as a positive development. What are your priority areas of concern? ER: I was invited by his Excellency for a briefing where he outlined his expectations by way of giving me the mandate to restructure the party from cell right up to the province. The second task was (that) because we have elections that are due sometime in the middle of the year, the President directed me to be involved in the mobilisation of support for the party. So basically those were the two tasks I was given. Restructure and mobilise and ensure the party scores a massive success in the harmonised elections. RM: How far have you fared in the
execution of these tasks? ER: I want to comment first on the restructuring. I can confirm that as far as the structures of the cells is concerned, we have done that and we continue to verify our cell structures. Why do we continue to verify our structures? There is this inevitable movement of people from time-to-time. Either some are transferred because of the demands of their employers or are newly-resettled. You know we have introduced land reform, some of our members continue to benefit through land reform and then they find themselves settling in areas where they would not have registered to vote. So because of that movement, we are bound to conduct our restructuring particularly of the cells continuously. We have also been encouraging our lower structures — provinces, districts, branches and the cells — to make sure that our members are registered to vote and also that they appear in our party registers. The cell register comprises 50 members and they need to be aligned to the polling station where they will be voting. So because of those changes, it becomes necessary to continue restructuring ourselves to make sure that by the time we get to the elections, our cells are intact and our members know exactly where they are going to vote. It doesn’t make sense for one to claim to belong to our party and not be registered. RM: And what have you done in
terms of mobilisation? ER: There is quite a lot that we have achieved. First, we are conducting commissariat programmes that have taken me and my commissariat staff to almost all the provinces where we are addressing our membership at cell level because the concept we have adopted this time is the concept of the web, “dandemutande”. This strategy focuses cells in a way that links them together just like the spider does. It links its web mats so neatly and makes sure that there is connectivity. And that’s the approach we have taken as the commissariat. We are going down to the cells, mobilising them, educating them on the importance of voting; on the importance of supporting Zanu-PF given our history as a revolutionary party that has brought independence to this country. We constantly remind Zimbabweans that it is the revolutionary ZANU-PF that has addressed the main national grievance of land, which was at the core of the liberation struggle and many other issues. We have also taken the President to a number of provinces by way of Presidential tours where he meets the people and the people are introduced to him. Each visit is normally juxtaposed with a tour or inspection of economic activity of interest. Remember the President’s mantra at his inaugural address at our extraordinary congress was that it’s no longer just politics. So we in Zanu-PF follow that call by the President not to spend more time talking about politics but also focus on economic issues. When we invite the President to tour, we normally arrange that he also tours or inspects an economic activity in the province first before addressing the people. And in the process of addressing the public, he will then give further direction or update concerning
the economic activity. RM: Prior to your appointment, members of Zanu-PF had expressed concern over wanton expulsion of members without due process. What have you done to instil confidence among party members and ensure that internal contradictions are amicably dealt with? ER: For your own information, it is not the responsibility of the national political commissar to handle disciplinary matters. That was actually a misnomer. In the current dispensation, the mandate of the national commissar as I said is to restructure and mobilise people to support the party. So I cannot be found anywhere near disciplinary cases within Zanu-PF. We have a secretary for Legal Affairs who is responsible for handling such issues and the national chairman of the party is the one chairs the National Disciplinary Committee. The national political commissar is not a member of the disciplinary committee. It was actually a contradiction; how can you mobilise and on the other hand prosecute? How do you win the heart and minds of the people? So in the current dispensation, my responsibility is to mobilise people. Yes, there were a lot of injustices committed by my predecessor and you are aware that during our extraordinary congress held last year, a resolution was arrived at where all those members that were expelled during the previous administration, the majority of them were readmitted into the party. So there is a resolution that has sanctioned the readmission of all members that were expelled, the lifting of suspensions on all members who were suspended. RM: In other words, you are saying all those that felt unfairly treated by the previous administration have been appeased? ER: I don’t know about those that you perceive as still holding grievances over their treatment by the previous commissar. In actual fact, what happened is that after the resolution passed last year at our congress, members who held positions simply reverted back to their positions. I don’t see anyone still having an issue to grind because of having been ill-treated by Kasukuwere. RM: What is your general assessment of the party structures ahead of the harmonised elections? I know you mentioned the issues of the “dandemutande” strategy, but are you happy with the state of the party as you prepare for elections? ER: I am relatively satisfied because we have conducted an exercise to verify those structures and the result that we got after the exercise gives me satisfaction. But you know Zanu-PF is a big party and we don’t want to take chances and sit on our laurels. We find it prudent and imperative that we continuously verify our structures particularly in an election. Your know the fever, you know the euphoria and the anxiety that comes with elections and there are chances of infiltration, especially when you have other aspiring members wanting to get into the election by hook and crook and in the process create parallel structures. So we want to guard against that, we want to get into an election with a credible structure and not a dubious one. That has happened before and we are now very alert and careful, particularly in our primary elections. We wont countenance parallel structures. RM: Do you think all party cadres, especially those in remote areas are adequately appraised of the change of leadership that took place in November last year? ER: Oh yes, there has been this unfounded assertion that people are not aware that there have been changes either in Zanu-PF leadership or in Government leadership. That is a myth; that is totally false. I have personally been to very, very remote areas. I was in Chipinge, (I am not saying Chipinge is a remote area) very distant areas where people believe information does not get there in time and is transmitted
For the first in almost four decades, Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party will go to polls with a new presidential candidate in the mould of Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa. Long used to former President Robert Mugabe’s face on the ballot box, party members are poised to chart a new chapter as they seek to bestow a fresh mandate on their new leader. To get a deeper understanding of the dynamics within the revolutionary party, Senior Writer Ranga Mataire (RM) recently had a conversation with the party’s national political commissar Major-General (Rtd) Engelbert Rugeje (ER) who replaced the heterodox Saviour Kasukuwere who has since fled the country in the wake of a military intervention last November.