Online Reporter
Patrick Chitumba, [email protected]
ZANU-PF’s Midlands Province has resolved to push for the alignment of the party constitution with the national Constitution to provide for a seven-year leadership cycle, a move its provincial leadership says would allow President Mnangagwa to lead beyond 2030.
The resolution was adopted at the Zanu-PF Midlands Inter-District Conference held at the party’s Convention Centre in Gweru at the weekend, where structures from across the province consolidated resolutions ahead of the Annual National People’s Conference in Chinhoyi.
Zanu-PF Midlands provincial chairperson Cde Edson Chiherenge said the province had taken a firm position on extending President Mnangagwa’s leadership beyond 2030.
“We met as a province and agreed that the party has to focus on President Mnangagwa beyond 2030. We want to align the party constitution with the national Constitution to have the seven-year cycle,” he said.
The Midlands resolution will now form part of submissions from provinces to the National People’s Conference, where party structures are expected to debate and consolidate proposals into resolutions guiding the party’s political and development agenda.
Beyond the leadership question, the province also resolved to intensify value addition and beneficiation of its mineral resources while calling for the continued implementation of development programmes under the Second Republic.
The resolutions are anchored on the conference theme: “From Resolutions to Results: Consolidating Economic Development and Deepening Empowerment Towards Vision 2030.”
Cde Chiherenge said beneficiation and economic empowerment were central to ensuring that communities derived greater value from the country’s natural resources.
The call carries particular significance for Midlands, which has emerged as a major mining and industrial hub with vast deposits of gold, chrome and other minerals.
Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Cde Munyaradzi Machacha said the ultimate measure of the party’s resolutions would be their impact on ordinary citizens.
“The National People’s Conference is a platform for provinces to bring forward the aspirations of their structures. What is important is that resolutions must translate into results that benefit the people. And you spoke about the need to make use of our resources locally,” he said.
Zanu-PF Politburo member Cde July Moyo said resolutions from Midlands would contribute to shaping the country’s broader development agenda.
“The party is superior; hence we need to have a solid map that will guide the nation. This is the President’s province, so we have your views respected,” he said.
Minister of State for Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Owen Ncube said the province was undergoing significant economic transformation driven by investment across several key sectors.
“Like the rest of our motherland, Zimbabwe, the Midlands Province continues to experience rapid economic growth, emerging as the largest rural provincial economy driven mainly by robust infrastructure development and massive investments in mining, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism, construction, retail and wholesale sectors,” he said.
The Midlands resolutions will be among proposals brought forward by Zanu-PF’s provincial structures when the party convenes its Annual National People’s Conference in Chinhoyi.
