ZANU- PF must change ahead of elections

The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) national people’s conference begins in Bulawayo on the 6th of December 2011. This has been dubbed a mini ‘congress’ as fundamental structural changes are expected to take place within the leadership at the top. These changes are according to the National Chairperson of ZANU PF Comrade Simon Khaya Moyo going to be largely minimalistic. There will be no changes at the very top. The majority of Zimbabwe’s provinces are said to have endorsed the candidacy of President Robert Mugabe in next year’s harmonised elections. Comrade Simon Khaya Moyo goes on to say that “ZANU PF was going to pursue the indigenisation and empowerment drive after the conference as the party’s flagship policy in its election manifesto”. And speaking to both Algerian and Nigerian envoys in Harare recently he further stated that "After the conference we will go to the people to ensure that we prepare for the harmonised elections and naturally we are looking forward to winning the elections resoundingly," Now like may other patriotic Zimbabweans out there, I have the greatest respect for the leadership in ZANU PF, but a distinction must be made between telling some hard truths and being disrespectful. Old ZANU to New ZANU It is a hard truth that must be said that ZANU PF needs to undergo a major fundamental structural change in order for it to appeal beyond its traditional rural voters. Whilst the legacy of the war of Liberation must be respected and protected, it is however an old political tactic to continue to use the liberation war ethos to win elections today. The world has moved on and it is now imperative for ZANU PF to set old slogans aside and embrace the political revolutions currently sweeping across the globe. ZANU PF has to renew itself in order to survive into the 21 century or it will be forced out of existence. After two decades under Thatcher, poor Tory policies and industrial reform Britain became a shadow of its former self. The Thatcherite years were dogged by continuous industrial action ranging from the mine workers to government workers strikes. This over the years weakened the Tory government as the economy took a knock which provided an opportunity for a ‘New Labour’ lead by Tony Blair that had overhauled itself to come in with new policies towards fiscal prudence, commitment to providing better public services and significant public sector reform. Whilst the indigenous and empowerment process currently underway in Zimbabwe is a good thing. It is not enough to garner the popular vote in next years harmonised election. The people of Zimbabwe want fundamental change and it seems that they are prepared to get this change from whatever source. In this respect, ZANU PF must use its 12th annual conference in Bulawayo to elect a new leadership for ZANU PF. It is imperative that this happens in order for ZANU PF to have a life after the next election. The arguments that ZANU PF will crumble if President Mugabe steps down or that President Mugabe is the only person who can win an election against Morgan Tsvangirai must be dismissed with the contempt they deserve. These arguments make a mockery of all the young capable leaders within ZANU PF and outside ZANU PF. Elections and Sanctions Let me first address the two arguments put forward. President Mugabe and many other nationalists were instrumental in bringing independence to Zimbabwe. With that independence legacy we saw the advent of the one man one vote system non existent before 1980. We saw the legacy of the land reform exercise with millions of Zimbabweans having benefitted thus far. These and many other legacies will forever remain a credit to President Robert Mugabe and other nationalists like Comrade Joshua Nkomo and many others who sacrificed their lives for Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans will be forever be eternally grateful. But Zimbabwe must move on inline with the new world order. In that respect, ZANU PF must elect a new leader who will lead the party in the next harmonised election. There are unfounded fears within ZANU PF that any new person at the helm maybe no match for Morgan Tsvangirai. I beg to differ. Within its rank and file it is possible for ZANU PF to come up with a new leader. That new leader will immediately work to endear him or herself to the people of Zimbabwe between now and the next election with President Mugabe playing the role of a mentor. With the amount of gaffs being made by Tsvangirai on a day to day basis it is possible for ZANU PF to have an electable candidate before the next election. With a new leader at its helm, ZANU PF will have no need to call for elections next year. In fact it will be prudent for ZANU PF to call for elections to be held in 2013. This will be consistent with the natural life of the Parliament of Zimbabwe of five years from the date of the last election held in 2008. In fact the MDC’s have managed to use smokes and mirrors to delay elections in Zimbabwe and hence I do not see why ZANU PF can not seek to delay them further whilst it puts its house in order. Between now and then ZANU PF will have an opportunity to make fundamental headway in rebranding the party, fiscal prudence, commit to provide public services that truly matter to the people of Zimbabwe, like a constant flow of water and electricity. The indigenisation and empowerment exercise currently underway must be intensified with all credit accruing to the new leader of ZANU PF. The indigenisation and empowerment exercise must be complemented by any equally aggressive public sector reform exercise. The privatisation of state institutions like the Zimbabwe electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA), Air Zimbabwe and many others that are currently struggling must complement the indigenisation and empowerment exercise that is currently targeting private foreign companies only. Public sector institutions are key pillars of any economy and as long as we do not attend to them Zimbabwe’s economy will remain in comatose. On the issue of sanctions, it boggles the mind as to why the leadership of ZANU PF are calling for elections whilst sanctions are still in place. It is a truism that the economic sanctions on Zimbabwe were put in place primarily to weaken the Zanu-PF led Zimbabwe government and push citizens of Zimbabwe to turn against their elected leadership. This strategy skews any election in favour of the MDC-T and muddles the political playing field. The general idea was to have Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party hijack the reins of power as soon as the people of Zimbabwe, battered by economic sanctions, overthrew the Mugabe administration. ZANU PF under a new leader may possibly be able to petition for the removal of these sanctions failure which ZANU PF must refrain from participating or calling for elections until the sanctions are removed. It will not be in the interest of ZANU PF to go to elections with economic sanctions in place fro the simple reason that the political playing field is skewed against it. Inject new blood in ZANU PF It is not rocket science to see that it is the young leaders in the MDC-T, MDC-M and MDC-N who are benefiting from being part of the Government of National Unity. They are learning on the job the skills of running government and country, whilst the ageing leadership in ZANU PF refuses or neglects to allow new young man and woman into the top leadership positions in the party. It is no secret that if one is to join ZANU PF today, they join the party at cell level and toyi toyi with others there until one is eventually finds their way to the top over the years. This apparently applies to all new aspiring leaders, educated professionals, and all those wanting to make an immediate impact in the party by way of bringing new ideas. This rule, whilst it may have been useful back in the sixties, it is now an outdated method of conscription. ZANU PF needs to adapt an open door policy towards new membership. Appointments to party positions must be upon merit as opposed to a patronage system. These and other new principals will make ZANU PF a party compatible with the new ethos of the 21st century. Factionalism and certainty

One of the many reasons ZANU PF has been dogged by factionalism has been a failure by its leadership to agree on the tenure of the leadership of ZANU PF. According to the wiki leaks revelations, there is a general consensus amongst ZANU PF leaders that president Mugabe must step down and it is in the national interest and party that a new leader be elected to lead the party. Electing a new leader at the National People’s conference in Bulawayo will go a long way in ridding the party of the factionalism that has been largely caused by the uncertainty of what would happen should president Robert Mugabe meet his maker suddenly. A new leader will by all accounts bring confidence and certainty back into the party and hence be better placed to mobilise a largely united party behind him and ZANU PF as a party would have survived into the 21st century. On the other hand if ZANU PF leaders refuse to confront the issue of leadership change at the National Peoples Party conference to be held in Bulawayo, then ZANU PF like UNIP in Zambia will have confined itself into the dustbin of history.