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Joseph Madzimure/Wallace Ruzvidzo, Harare Bureau
A ZANU-PF special Politburo meeting yesterday appointed a five-member team led by national chairperson Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri to oversee the re-establishment of a District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) in Harare as the ruling party intensifies preparations for the 2023 harmonised elections.
The party’s DCCs were disbanded in 2012 after it was felt they had been hijacked by elements that wanted to manipulate party structures to foment factionalism and disharmony in the party.
Other members of the team, which is supposed to start working immediately, are Secretary for Administration Dr Obert Mpofu, Political Commissar Cde Victor Matemadanda, Secretary for Finance and Economic Development Cde Patrick Chinamasa and Secretary for Security Cde Lovemore Matuke.
Addressing the media soon after the meeting in Harare, Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, said the main agenda of the special Politburo session was on the preparations and elections of the DCC for Harare province.
“As you are aware, all the structures in Harare province were dissolved and there was a need to revamp the whole province. Furthermore, the party is continually remodelling and renewing itself in line with the constantly changing socio, political and economic environment.
“The thrust is in tandem with the dictates of a modern political party in pursuit of achieving fair, transparent and equitable participation by all the rank and file of the party membership,” he said.
Cde Khaya Moyo said the party would appoint six party provincial members to assist the team.
“This exercise will exclude the rank and file of the Harare province membership to avoid issues of bias which the party is aware of and which, to a large extent, has been fomented by our detractors.
“The Harare provincial restructuring exercise is a deliberate strategy of the party as it strategically prepares for the national harmonised elections in 2023.
“In other words, this exercise will not just end in Harare, it will also be extended to all other provinces later on,” he said.
The exercise, Cde Khaya Moyo said, presents an opportunity to ascertain the true membership of the party in the province’s six zones.
“The Politburo has therefore resolved that the DCC elections programme commences today with the special Politburo meeting and will end on Sunday October 13, 2019. The full details of the programme will be conveyed to the relevant officials in due course,” he added.
Cde Khaya Moyo called on party members to refrain from cheating during the exercise.
“The party will deal firmly with any form of cheating, vote buying, bussing of people to polling stations, use of unofficial ballot papers and any other actions deemed to frustrate the process.
“We want a clean party where discipline is the order of the day and we are not going to tolerate those who act otherwise because we are empowered by the constitution to deal with such characters.
“We want people who are honest, who are committed to the party and not pretenders,” he said.
The DCC are expected to play a pivotal role in the co-ordination of party activities.
Bongani Ndlovu