adminIn iSiNdebele, there is a saying “olendlebe uzwile” loosely translated to mean anyone with ears got the message, and we believe that saying applies to members of the ruling party Zanu-PF, government officials and all Zimbabweans at large.
In his keynote address on the official opening of the 15th Zanu-PF Annual National People’s Conference which ended in Victoria Falls yesterday, President Mugabe spoke of the need for party cadres to stand guided by the ideology and founding values of the liberation movement.
He said there were some elements who were going astray, but said it was the duty of other party members to show them the way. The President eloquently spoke against divisive elements in the party, some of whom had even dragged service chiefs into their shenanigans, but said the conference was not the occasion to tear each other apart, but to take stock of the progress the party and Government was making in the endeavour to make Zimbabwe a better place for everyone.
The president is also on record saying party members should desist from the culture of “vote of no confidence” on members deemed errant, and warned there were some people eager to boot out others so that they can take over their positions.
Like an elder statesman, he conceded that there could be some people on the wrong, but said such people should be taught how things are done in the party, and in the event that they did not change their ways, they risked being booted out of the party.
It was a message of building the party from grassroots right to the top, a message that should spur party cadres to view each other as brothers and sisters and not as competitions or rivals. He added that there was no one more important than the other in the party.
“We cannot succeed unless we are united. We cannot succeed if we continue quarrelling. We cannot be a party of continued success and victories — divided we fall, united we stand. Let us be united.
“We say to ourselves comrades. Comradeship should exist in abundance. We are all comrades. There is none of us who is a better comrade than the other. We are all comrades whether we are war veterans or not. We are veterans in our own way, whether we went to war or we did not. You are a valuable member of the party, you make contributions in your own way even if you are a peasant farmer. You mean the same to me as a comrade in the party.”
In addition, party members were reminded to be always in touch with the masses. Chinese great Mao Tse Tang said revolutionary fighters are the fish while the masses are the water. And the truth of the matter is that a fish cannot survive outside water. While the statement was attributed to the times of fighting imperialism and colonialism, it is still relevant today, as it reminds liberation movement party members never to keep a distance with the electorate. One can only know the challenges that people are facing if they are in touch with them, and they can also proffer solutions to people’s tribulations if they listen to their stories.
The ruling party is also concerned with the level of corruption, with President Mugabe castigating Government officials assigned to engage foreign companies to undertake development projects for inflating costs and making taxpayers bear the brunt of their corruption. He said monitoring had been tightened and anyone caught would be prosecuted.
The message from His Excellency was that everyone has a role to play to make this country prosper, whether one is a vendor or engineer, and that should spur every Zimbabwean to play his or her part in fighting tendencies that hurt the economy and divide people on what ever basis. Instead, everyone should preach tolerance, unity, hard work and patriotism.
Online Reporter