adminNqobile Tshili: Chronicle Correspondent
ZANU-PF Members of Parliament yesterday started lessons on the party’s ideology premised on the Chitepo Ideological College that was operational during the liberation struggle. The lessons will be held every Wednesday before Parliament seats.
Zanu-PF deputy chief whip Cde Annah Rungani said the lessons were being conducted by officials from the party’s commissariat department.
“Today we were just going through the introductory stages. We’re being taught our country’s history as most of the MPs are not really conversant with it,” she said.
Zanu-PF chief whip Cde Lovemore Matuke said although the Chitepo Ideological School was no longer operational, the party would continue advancing its ideals.
“We know that there are financial challenges to set up the actual school but we’ve agreed that MPs should be equipped with knowledge about our country’s history. The MPs are the ones who engage with people at grassroots level so what they learn can easily be transferred to ordinary people,” he said. Cde Matuke said it was critical for the Zanu-PF MPs to acquaint themselves with the party’s ideology so as learn how to fight the changing dynamics of neo-colonialism and defend the country’s sovereignty.
Zanu-PF First Secretary and President Mugabe has been consistently calling for the resuscitation of the Chitepo Ideological College. War veterans, at their meeting with President Mugabe in April, also said there was a need to immediately operationalise the school without necessarily waiting for the construction of structures.
The ex-combatants said there was lack of patriotism and understanding of Zanu-PF’s ideology particularly among those who did not participate in the liberation struggle.
derick.khumalo