Zanu PF Congress: A slap in the face of doomsayers
THE Zanu PF 7th National People’s congress held recently in Harare left doomsayers with an egg on the face. The prophets of doom had falsely prophesied that the just ended congress was meant to have blood on the floor.
They had predicted that the period between October 26 to 29 was going to be a period of long knives where alleged Zanu PF factions would be engaging in running bloody battles to outdo each other.
While forces of doom were relentlessly trying to find ways to bring down Zanu PF, the revolutionary party responded by delivering an incident-free congress whose major highlight was the massive endorsement of President Mnangagwa as the party’s President and sole Presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections.
Before the start of the congress, knives had already been sharpened, the headstone identified and the epitaph composed as the prophets of doom falsely prophesied that the gathering was going to be marred with bloodshed that would lead to the explosion of the ruling party ahead of the 2023 elections.
However, the congress was the altar on which the Zanu PF unity was solidified and the close friendship between President Mnangagwa and his deputies, Cde Constantino Chiwenga and Cde Kembo Mohadi was publicly exhibited.
At this juncture, I would want to ask some sections of the media to explain where they were getting the stories that President Mnangagwa was not going to be endorsed and that Vice President Chiwenga was going to challenge him for the Presidential throne.
What transpired at the meeting was the opposite of what had been predicted by prophets of doom because the congress went on smoothly and none of what we had been reading in the media happened.
At the end of the congress, doomsayers were left to lick wounds of humiliation as Vice President Chiwenga led thousands of the delegates that had thronged the Harare International Conference Centre in endorsing President Mnangagwa.
Those who were pitting President Mnangagwa and his deputy, Cde Chiwenga were left with wet pants when the Vice President stood up and boldly claimed that, “While this congress is supposed to be an elective one, the party membership, through its structures and organs had already clearly and thunderously endorsed Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa as the President and First Secretary and sole presidential candidate of the ruling
Despite some media reports, the Zanu-PF in the 2023 harmonised elections.”
Vice President Chiwenga went on to say that the title “ED” should now mean “Emmerson Delivers” because the President has been delivering on his electoral pledges.
He added that the illustrious work the President had done in the last five years guaranteed him a thunderous victory in the 2023 harmonised elections.
I can imagine how the doomsayers felt when Vice President Chiwenga went further to pledge his loyalty to President Mnangagwa and the Zanu PF.
This surely may have made the detractors realise that they were fighting a lost battle as nothing would come between President Mnangagwa and his deputy Cde Chiwenga.
To add salt to the wounds of doomsayers, President Mnangagwa announced to the congress that he had known and harmoniously worked with Vice President Chiwenga for over 46 years.
Surely, a friendship that survived gun fire battles of the 1960s and 70s cannot be destroyed by wishful thinking of social media activists and ideologically bankrupt opposition members.
Again, a friendship that together survived the machinations of the G40 will not be ruined by journalists who survive on brown envelopes.
Contrary to the wishes of doomsayers, the Zanu PF congress helped to rejuvenate the ruling party as new office bearers of the Central Committee and Politburo members were confirmed.
The congress further exposed that the party was for unity as some members who were previously relegated to the peripheries of the politics made a comeback into the Central Committee.
Comrades including, Francis Nhema, Lewis Matutu, Nicholas Goche and Webster Shamu were given a new lease of life as Central Committee.
Former Zanu Ndonga president, Wilson Khumbula was appointed a Central Committee member in a move that marked the death of that opposition party.
Therefore, instead of imploding and disintegrating, Zanu PF managed to solidify its unity.
Instead of being distracted by cheap propaganda, the ruling party made use of the congress to focus on “Build
ing a Prosperous Zimbabwe, Leaving No One and No Place Behind”.
It was a congress that focused little on politics and spent much time on deliberating on issues that affect the economy.
It was at the congress that President Mnangagwa announced that Zanu PF was a party with a purpose, a party with a mission and the party which will drive the realisation of Vision 2030.
The President revealed that the ruling party was consolidating all efforts to unite the people of Zimbabwe, guided by the principle that we are diverse but one people.
Surprisingly, the doomsayers are not done yet as they are continuing with their unfounded imagined tension within Zanu PF.
The doomsayers are now claiming that people should not read much into the unity that transpired at the congress as more was yet to come.
However, what will only come is more unity within Zanu PF and the thunderous victory of the party in the forthcoming polls.
The prophets of doom should come to terms with the fact that the ruling Zanu PF is a colossal party that will remain united and be in power for many decades to come.
No machinations and wishful thinking of doomsayers will destroy this party that defeated the Smith regime and the continuous schemings of the West to isolate Zanu PF from the generality of Zimbabweans.
Doomsayers within the country and beyond should know that Zanu PF is alive, rejuvenated and ready to deliver a smashing blow to all political pretenders in the forthcoming elections.
Contrary to the wishes of doomsayers, the ZANU PF congress helped to rejuvenate the ruling party as new office bearers of the Central Committee and Politburo members were confirmed