Chairman’s Address, by Masimba Tawengwa
Conference round up summary – rules and functions for CC and PB
The theme of the conference was: “Modernise, Mechanise and Grow the Economy Towards Vision 2030”.
Two main highlights for the UK/Europe District were
(1) Attending the Central Committee. The Central Committee is the body responsible for running the Party on behalf Party members and supporters. Central Committee members are directly elected by people from different Party Districts across Zimbabwe. In Principle the Central Committee is above the Politburo, it’s role is to supervise the work of the Politburo (which is a Secretariat of the Party).
The Politburo runs the affairs of the Party on a daily basis and reports to the Central Committee once every quarter meaning the CC means 3 times a year to review the work of the Politburo. The Central Committee also presents the concerns of the grass-roots to the Politburo and instructs the PB to come up with policy solutions. And all the sessions are closed to the media and the public including ordinary members of the Party.
So for the UK delegates to be able to part of the Central Committee meeting is unprecedented and an a achievement for us as we got to learn a lot about how the Party is run as well as how we should do things.
Second highlight was being able to present our request for full constitutional recognition of Party Diaspora Structures which I had the privilege to do before Conference Delegates. And the proposal was wholly adopted with National Commissariat tasked to come up with ideas on how this can be incorporated in the new constitution being drafted. The Director for Commissariat has since been in touch soliciting for our ideas and in our Discussion segment we will have an opportunity to contribute.
Turning to the State of the Party
The Party by way of a resolution is now supreme over government, meaning the Party instructs government to implement Party Manifesto related policies. So Permanent Secretaries and their Principal Directors now hold periodic meetings with Party officials at HQ to ensure collaboration of economic activities.
Mobilisation- the Party is now on a Mobilisation drive target to increase our Presidential share vote in 2023 to 5million that’s almost twice what President ED got in the last election.
You may have watched recently a video recording by National Secretary for Commissariat regarding mobilisation and growing the Party. Emphasis is ensuring that new recruits to the Party are taught the Party Ideology and how it functions kuti mu Party musaita confusion nevanhu vasingazive gwara remusangano.
Voter Registration
To ZANU PF and indeed any political party, a member is only as good and important if they are a registered voter. So every ZANU PF member is instructed to register as a voter and to ensure they prepare to go and vote when a general election is called. This is also important for those who aspire to be leaders at any level of Party structures. Even more important for those who are planning to contest primary elections to be Parliamentary Candidates for the Party in 2023.
We are here to help and support with advice for those aspiring to run, feel free to get in touch.
Investing Home: We had meetings with Party’s Directors for Small , Medium Enterprises and Women’s Affairs, Policy Implementation and Economic Development Cdes Hungwe, Muguti and Brown respectively willing to support those interested in assessing loans and business opportunities available.
These will guide diaspora Party members to go through the bureaucratic requirements by various ministries.
Economic Development Secretary Cde Bimha expressed an interest to visit us here to engage on diaspora economic development opportunities at home. We will discuss that further in our plans for the year this evening through our Secretary for Administration.
UK/Europe District Elections
The district will hold elections starting with the various branches, some of them have never had elections since their formation in 2014 etc and are by and large being run by interim leaders who were never elected by anyone.
Similarly at District level, elections are long overdue. Elections are called and run by the Party HQ through an Electoral board. As advised in Dr Obert Mpofu our National Secretary for Administration in his two letters one in July and another in August 2019, the Party shall direct us as to when elections will be held. So we should not be anxious or misled by anyone on that matter.
In the mean time, let’s remain as disciplined Party cadres, working hard for our Party and country as well as individual selves.
I thank you.
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