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, warning that such conduct destroys the party.
Addressing hundreds of people who thronged the National Heroes Acre yesterday for the burial of national hero, Cde Edson Ncube, President Mugabe said such behaviour had no place in Zanu-PF.
Cde Ncube died in Bulawayo on Sunday after succumbing to anaemia and was declared a national hero.
The remarks by President Mugabe follow reports of vote-buying and the imposition of candidates during Zanu-PF District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) elections held countrywide recently.
Such cases have been reported in Masvingo and Manicaland.
President Mugabe said there were some individuals in the party who were going around the country buying people and influencing voting patterns.
The Zanu-PF First Secretary and President condemned such behaviour saying it was tantamount to stealing positions.
“They go around and say do not vote for so and so, ndiwe ani? Kunyora tutsamba kuti ava ndivo vanosungirwa kuvhoterwa muDCC. You are destroying the party for which people like Edson worked so hard for,” President Mugabe said.
He added: “Do your work. Let the people judge you. If they do not like you, they do not like you. We do not want impositions. No.”
President Mugabe urged party cadres to emulate Cde Ncube whom he said was humble and hardworking throughout his political career.
“How many of us can be like him? Edson was very quiet and very humble. I worked with him for a long period. He never complained. There are very few people like him. I say so deliberately. We are becoming too materialistic and that is going to destroy the party,” President Mugabe said.
He said Cde Ncube, whom he described as an embodiment of the history of the liberation struggle, accepted any positions given to him by the party without frowning.
President Mugabe said Cde Ncube was “a man of an impeccable character” who was always reliable and honest.
“There are very few people like him people who will tell you the truth and avoid telling you lies. These are the people we revere here,” he said.
President Mugabe urged unity in Zanu-PF as the country geared for national polls.
“We are looking forward to having an election on the basis of a new constitution. Let us get united. He (Cde Ncube) is leaving us when the party has recovered from the blows of March 2008 but let us work hard in his name and in the name of all those who lie here,” President Mugabe said.
The Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces also blasted political leaders who seek the intervention of Europeans for them to rule the country.
“If you think you cannot rule this country if you do not go to Europe then you do not deserve to rule this country. We want people who can say Zimbabwe is an African country, Africa for Africans. We can rule ourselves. We can think and conceive ideas and turn those ideas into programmes,” he said.
“Teach those people who still think the white man is wiser than the black man the revolutionary gospel of Zanu-PF.”
He said no imperialist would “ever teach you how to rule yourself”.
President Mugabe said the British “can rule the rest of the world but not Zimbabwe”.
Earlier on in the morning hundreds of people thronged Stodart Hall in Mbare to bid farewell to Cde Ncube.
Among them were two MDC ministers Samuel Sipepa Nkomo (Water Resources Development and Management) and Seiso Moyo (Deputy Minister Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development).
At Stodart Hall, youths waved placards praising Cde Ncube’s contribution in the liberation war.
Read some of the banners: “Let us defend the gains of the liberation”, “Cde Ncube: principled and disciplined”, “Go well Cde Ncube”, “Cde Ncube, a servant of the people”.
After body viewing and a church service at Stodart Hall, Cde Ncube’s body was taken to the national shrine for burial.
Cde Ncube was the Zanu-PF deputy secretary for administration and held a number of positions in the party.
He was declared a national hero because of his illustrious record of service before and after independence.
Cde Ncube joined the African National Congress in 1959.
He was active in different nationalist movements at various stages of his life ranging from the National Democratic Party, Zimbabwe African People’s Union, People’s Caretaker Council and the African National Congress (ANCZ).
Bongani Ndlovu