ZANU PF politburo to explode

President Robert Mugabe leading a ZANU PF politburo meeting.

FIREWORKS are expected at the ZANU-PF Politburo meeting where stern measures could be taken against members who have hit the campaign trail for Central Committee positions before being cleared by the party’s leadership, the Financial Gazette can report. ZANU-PF is headed for its elective congress in December. As a precursor to the event, running between December 9 and 14, the party has been seized with the elections for its Youth League, Women’s League and Central Committee.

The youths and women’s league conferences were held in August, with the former being characterised by poor organisation, incidents of violence and vote buying. While the party normally conducts its Central Committee elections immediately after the youths and women’s league conferences, it was forced to delay the polls in the wake of internecine infighting that marred the August polls. It therefore means that the Central Committee elections, which should have been held last month, are now running behind schedule.

The delays have become the source of anxiety and conflict among aspiring Central Committee members, with others choosing to conduct themselves outside the rule book. Instead of toeing the party line, ZANU-PF members are throwing caution to the wind, desperate to claim a place among the 230 people that constitute the Central Committee. In all the party’s 10 political provinces, aspiring Central Committee members are lobbying for positions, while others are resorting to vote buying and other means of trying to win support as the election days beckon.

What has peeved the party’s leadership is that the campaigns are being waged along factional lines, thereby creating a tense atmosphere ahead of the main congress.
ZANU-PF spokesperson, Rugare Gumbo, this week said the Politburo would not hesitate to punish those who break the party’s regulations. “The key thing is that the party has taken a position on the Central Committee elections and that has to be respected. The party gave a directive that there should not be any premature campaigns. That is the position of the party and we know there are some individuals who campaign illegally and we will definitely do something about it in the Politburo,” he said.

“The Politburo will be sitting on October 22 mainly to deal with those issues and to also come up with the dates for Central Committee elections as well as the guidelines,” he added, without specifying what action would be taken against the rebellious party members. Elections into the Central Committee are done at provincial conferences that will follow immediately after the Politburo meeting, scheduled for October 22, in the capital.

A Politburo meeting convened immediately after the Women’s League’s conference suspended the Central Committee elections and barred prospective candidates from campaigning for positions until they have been told to do so by the party’s leadership. The meeting also withdrew a circular that had been dispatched to provinces earlier, spelling out guidelines for those who would want to land Central Committee positions. But instead of taking heed of the directive, there is serious jockeying for positions in the provinces.

In the Midlands Province, the jostling has reached fever pitch with prominent names like Larry Mavima and outgoing Youth League deputy secretary, Edson Chakanyuka, throwing their hats into the ring. Mavima and Chakanyuka confirmed their interest. In the volatile Mashonaland West province, businessman Philip Chiyangwa is said to be gunning for a Central Committee position. Provincial chairman, Temba Mliswa, is also being accused of working to ensure his district, Hurungwe, is allotted more Central Committee positions, which implies that other districts like Zvimba would lose some slots.

This has set Mliswa on collision course with fellow party members from Zvimba, resulting in a vote of no confidence passed in him last week which has since turned out to be a nullity. Mliswa’s argument is that he wants to ensure there is more equitable distribution of central committee seats in the province. “It is not fair, for example, that Zvimba, which is a small district with, has five central committee positions while the bigger ones like Hurungwe and Sanyati have three and two respectively. That has to be corrected,” Mliswa told the Financial Gazette in an interview.

The central committee is the principal organ of the party and consists of 230 members drawn from the party’s 10 provinces.  It acts on behalf of congress when it is not in session and among other things implements all policies, resolutions, directives, decisions and programmes articulated by congress. The Politburo acts as a secretariat of the central committee and reports its resolutions thereto. Forty-six central committee members are already known, 34 of them being women and youth leagues executive members.  The leagues feed 17 of their national executive committee members into organ each while the all the 10 provincial chairpersons automatically become central committee members.

President Mugabe has since retained his central committee position after being nominated by all the provinces to retain the position of First Secretary of the party while Harare province has reserved a central committee position for the First Lady, Grace Mugabe who will take over as Women’s League boss at congress. The ZANU-PF constitution empowers President Mugabe to appoint 10 members, one from each province, while 50 are drawn from the women’s quarter.

newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw