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If Zanu-PF was beginning to slacken in its ideological focus, it must have gotten a rude awakening last week. That meeting between President Mugabe and war veterans on Thursday was important in reminding the party leadership that the two still have lots of work to do together: iwe neni tine basa. The first thing to observe is that the indaba was frank. That is significant. There are a lot of detractors who were praying at the very least that the meeting would be aborted; that the President and patron of the war veterans would chicken out, as it were. He came and sat through the presentations, and actively reacted, either smiling or nodding his head in acknowledgement.
Then there were those holding their breath in anticipation of rowdy demonstrations that would render the indaba so chaotic that nothing useful could be discussed.
There were no demonstrations and denunciations of party members.
One thing was very evident. The war veterans are committed to the party of the liberation and are not about to be distracted by alien agendas. To that extent, they made their complaints clear to all and it was good that the proceedings were captured live to avoid distortions by media agents of the forces of darkness.
The war veterans made clear they were not happy about divisive slogans which surfaced unexpectedly at party meetings. They were worried about the relentless dismissals of party members without due process. Instead of recruiting new and more members, they complained, the party was on a warpath with those already inside. This was not the way to grow the party and they made this clear to their patron.
The war veterans stated that they were an integral part of the structure of Zanu-PF, not just an affiliate. They were a key pillar of its very existence, if not its soul.
The war veterans attributed some of the challenges facing the party to lack of ideological cohesion. There were new comers, old and youth, who lacked the ideological clarity of those who went to war and received adequate training to withstand the devious machinations of those bent on undermining and destroying the revolutionary party. The party had every reason to guard against such elements, the war veterans made clear.
To that end, the war veterans expressed worry that Zanu-PF had not fulfilled the agenda to establish the Chitepo Ideological College. There seemed to be a slackening, an unwarranted sense of accomplishment, that the war was over, that the enemy had been vanquished.
In our front page today, we carry tributes on the late national heroine Comrade Victoria Chitepo, who will be buried at the National Heroes Acre on Wednesday this week. In the story, Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Minister Dr Christopher Mushohwe recalls how Mrs Chitepo kept inquiring on when the Chitepo Ideological College would be established. He said she had expressed a wish to do some work with the youth.
It could be said that she was expressing the wishes of her late husband to keep the party strong and ideologically clear. These are the same wishes which were expressed by war veterans during their historic meeting with President Mugabe.
Another important matter to come out of that indaba was captured by the war veterans patron himself. President Mugabe called for unity, respect and discipline in the party.
There is a general feeling that the lack of these attributes is partly responsible for the factional fights which have preoccupied the party since its victory in the July 31, 2013 harmonised elections. In the absence of a strong opposition, Zanu-PF has been fighting itself, with factions said to be positioning themselves strategically for a time when the President leaves office.
This has taken priority ahead of policy implementation. Few seem to care that come elections in 2018, the party would be judged in part on what it has delivered on Zim-Asset, the economic development blueprint which won it the elections.
That blueprint will be used by its rivals as a campaign tool of how the party performed or failed on its own promises to the voters. Complacency might turn out to be the ruling party’s major undoing more than the credibility of its rivals.
These are the matters to reflect on as the nation mourns the passing on of yet another of the gallant daughters of Zimbabwe’s independence war.
Online Reporter