Most of the resolutions did not make sense, just like this yearly ritual of bringing party sympathisers together to stuff themselves while people’s bellies rumble with hunger has become such an empty phenomenon.
To underscore the vacuous nature of the rite, party Chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, who presided over the cluster presentations that preceded Mugabe’s closing remarks, jabbered about the need for a five-minute limit to committee presentations.
It was painfully obvious that everyone was bored, including the committee heads, most of whom had to be called upon several times to go up to the podium. They had every reason to be indifferent, and they showed it in their presentations.
The first resolution that took me aback was the pronouncement (was it by Ignatius Chombo?) that a constitutional referendum should be in place before Christmas to pave way for elections by March next year.
At the time of the conference, Christmas was just over two weeks away. Just what miracle on earth can fast-forward us to a referendum on such a time line?
As I write, there has been no clear word from Copac on what progress they have made since the Second All-Stakeholders’ Conference. Have they even, one wonders, put together the input made at the stakeholders’ summit? Certainly, no draft will be here any time soon.
By the way, after the draft has been completed, there are several other time-consuming stages that we have to go through, among them addressing the logistical and administrative challenges of a referendum.
It boggles the mind how a grown man can announce that they want a referendum in two weeks—absolute hogwash! Needless to say, Zanu (PF) has been throwing all manner of spanners in the draft-making process.
Then it was Oppah Muchinguri’s turn. By the way, I noticed that a ZBC cameraman zoomed in on a stoney-faced Grace Mugabe about five times for the 10 or so minutes that Oppah was speaking, and I wondered why.
Oppah told the delegates that fellow party women had resolved to urge relevant authorities to de-clog our highways of prowling cops and Zimra officers who were milking female traders dry. Honestly, I don’t know what these party women sought to achieve by saying that.
They should have been reminded that the roadblocks are a creation of one of them, Augustine Chihuri, who has, in typical arrogant fashion, dismissed calls over the months to stand down his details who have become a legendary nuisance on the roads through their bribe-grabbing shenanigans.
If they wanted to have a dig at one of their ilk, for whatever reason, they should not have hung out that soiled linen for all of us to see. That should have done behind closed doors, even though, of course, we see the linen wherever we travel. As for Zimra, I am not sure about the political inclination of its head, but there shouldn’t be a prize for guessing.
The party also resolved to set up an ideological school. This is not the first time we have heard about that. At one time, there was talk of such a school being established in Mashonaland Central, but that fizzled out along the way. There was also talk of constructing a brainwashing institution in Mugabe’s home area, but all that seems to have been forgotten.
But then, what ideological school does Zanu (PF) need when it already has the chiefs, ZBC and Zimpapers, with the Border Gezi training and torture camps coming in for good measure? Who needs an ideological school when every general is a political commissar and every army or police recruit recites the mantra on sanctions more easily than the national anthem?
The youth wing, unfashionably represented by the overgrown Sikhosana, apparently taking a cue from its elders in the party as usual, resolved to keep the peace unless provoked. Their declaration came hard on the heels of a new wave of abductions, intimidations and politically motivated violence against political opponents across the country. Who then is carrying out those dastardly acts?
Zanu (PF) unashamedly wants to muzzle the media by jamming private radio stations beaming into Zimbabwe. I am not sure of the Act of Parliament that they intend to use to achieve that, and am forced to wonder loudly about the party’s capacity to do that. This is a party that struggled to raise money for the conference, yet some people have the audacity to jabber about acquiring expensive equipment to augment already spirited efforts by our spooks.
The party also wants to set up a radio station and a TV platform for its listeners, yet it can hardly pay journalists at The Voice and its companies are in limbo. I could go on and on, but, as I have already said, these resolutions are such a yaaaawn. – For feedback, please write to majonitt@gmail.com
Post published in: Analysis