No to imposition of candidates in DCCs: Matemadanda
THE Coalition of Democratic Parties (CODE) will field candidates in all the 210 constituencies to ensure nationwide representation during the 2023 elections.
CODE vice chairperson Mr Dereck Lupemba said in the 2018 elections, they failed to field candidates in all constituencies due to lack of resources.
“We are going to field candidates all the 210 constituencies throughout the country, something we have not been able to do in the last elections due to limited resources.
“We will continue mobilising our youths and we continue to also mobilise our people throughout the country and we should be able to field candidates in all the constituencies in the coming elections.
“Our achievement so far is that we have managed to convert CODE into a single political party,” he said.
CODE participated in the 2018 elections after bringing together two parties.
“We sat down as the national executive council and as the various political parties that had coalesced under the CODE banner and we resolved to collapse our political parties into one entity which is the CODE party. These were the Zimbabwe First party and the Renewal Democratic Party of Zimbabwe (RDZ),” he said.
He urged the Government to put more effort in educating the youth on the effects of corruption. Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF has set a target of $5 million to host its 18th Annual National People’s Conference in Goromonzi, Mashonaland East Province, next month.
The target was communicated through a circular that was sent to provincial chairpersons last week. Each province is expected to raise at least $500 000. Matabeleland North provincial chairman Cde Richard Moyo confirmed receipt of the circular.
“We received a circular last week from the party advising that $500 000 was required per province. Each province was tasked to raise $500 000 towards the annual conference.
“We want to ensure our members are catered for during the conference,” said Cde Moyo.
He said the province will meet as the Provincial Coordinating Committee and the administrative districts.
“We are going to meet with all the seven administrative party districts in the province. We are also appealing to well-wishers to donate towards the conference either in cash or kind.
We are not forcing anyone to donate,” he added. Cde Rabelani Choeni, Matabeleland South chairman, said the province is working on raising the money.
Mashonaland Central provincial chairman Cde Kazembe Kazembe said his province is going to raise the stipulated amount.
“We met with all the eight administrative districts last week. Each district has been tasked to raise a certain amount towards the conference. We are very confident that the province will mobilise the required amount.
“The province will meet on November 9 to receive progress reports from each district. We accept donations either in cash or kind,” said Cde Kazembe.
Other chairpersons were not reachable yesterday. Mashonaland East provincial chairperson Cde Joel Biggie Matiza said upgrading of the venue Goromonzi High School is expected to be complete by mid-November.
The conference is expected to consolidate national efforts towards reviving the country’s economy ,with President Mnangagwa aggressively pursuing economic recovery through the implementation of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (2018–2020).
The TSP is premised on fiscal consolidation, economic stabilisation, and stimulation of growth and creation of employment.
At the 2018 annual conference, the party came up with a number of resolutions which included the endorsement of President Mnangagwa as the party’s sole Presidential candidate in the 2023 elections.
The party also reaffirmed its position on zero tolerance to corruption. ZANU-PF is working on measures to regain control of urban constituencies as it seeks to consolidate its power base and will not tolerate the imposition of candidates, the party’s National Political Commissar Cde Victor Matemadanda has said.
He was speaking during an interface with ex-combatants, widows, ex-detainees, war collaborators and other members from the party organs here.
Cde Matemadanda said the days of demarcating rural areas as the preserve of Zanu-PF and urban settlements as a fortress for opposition parties were over.
He said the party was consolidating its support base among rural voters and at the same time reclaiming urban votes.
“We are now going to fish in unknown waters. The party renews itself during election periods and our view is that every election reinvigorates the party. However, the concern is that we have been fishing from one pond,” said Cde Matemadanda.
“That is why we are now embracing everyone who wants to join the party. The biggest headache that politicians have is civil servants. These have for long been participating in politics whether negatively or positively.
“They become civil servants because they serve the Government of the day and implement its programmes though at times they question some programmes
“They must be free to point out where things are going wrong. We have always had civil servants in political parties’ structures, whether in the ruling party or opposition establishments.”
He continued; “When DCC elections come, we will not allow the imposition of candidates. We have discovered that we had a tendency of creating regional political gurus.
“So the understanding that we want our people to have is that, it is them and the party that have a relationship, not through someone else. We are all members from the Politburo, Central Committee and all card-carrying members”.
The politician said it was important for party members and supporters to note that they had equal membership.
Cde Matemanda said there was a misconception among some people in the party that when they are aligned to certain politicians, they have advantages over others.
He said such a practice of imposing candidates on the people and the creation of alignments almost destroyed the party during the old dispensation
“You had to align to certain individuals for you to be recognised, even the part of the leadership we have today still have that mentality and also we still have some people regionalising party politics.
“For instance, I come from the Midlands and unfortunately or maybe fortunately our province and Masvingo are not named along tribal origins, like Matabeleland, Manicaland and Mashonaland,” said Cde Matamedanda.
He said in some cases, people would go to the extent of saying anyone who is not from Manicaland or Mashonaland should not be in any position of leadership.
He said the practice was rife in Harare and Bulawayo.
Cde Matemadanda said people should contest for party positions based on party membership.
He said the commissariat department was on a whirlwind tour of the country to discuss welfare issues and unpack the direction of the movement to them, including the economic situation and sanctions to its members.