Zapu spokesperson Njobisa Noko told The Zimbabwean in a recent interview that the president should serve the interests of all citizens regardless of political affiliation.
“A head of state must be divorced from party politics if he is to run affairs of the country in a non partisan manner,” said Noko. “If the head of state is recalled for failure to deliver, he will be expected to rejoin the party at grassroots level since his former party position will have been occupied during his absence.”
Political analyst Goodwill Phiri said it was not realistic for a party to ‘severe’ relations with their leader when they deploy him for head of state duties.
“The party in government and the head of state would push their party policies when in power. Performance of the head of state is not affected in any way by his continued ties with party politics,” said Phiri, adding that it would be unimaginable for a head of state to hold a junior position at party level.
“Political parties should simply have checks and balances to govern how their president runs national affairs. The South African scenario that saw a former head of state being recalled by his party after failing to deliver is a classic example,” said Phiri.
Another respected analyst, Eldred Masunungure, said it was unlikely that there would be division of duties between a head of state and party leader, given the party politics system practiced here. “Zimbabwe is a party politics country. The party leader naturally becomes the head of state and champions the interests and policies of his organisation,” said Masunungure.
“Ideally the head of state should not be identified with any one political party, like the USA political system. One can hardly tell to which party President Barack Obama belongs.”
Masunungure said he would prefer a system proposed by Zapu which separates roles of the head of state from those of the party leader. He said after Zimbabwe attained its independence there was a prime minister with executive powers who was not the head of state. Zapu is the oldest political party in Zimbabwe which was founded by the late Joshua Nkomo.
Post published in: News