National Patriotic Front (NPF)

In late May 2018, NPF was rocked by problems after a video of Jonathan Moyo and Patrick Zhuwawo discussing the party's problems inadvertently live-streamed online. In the video, Moyo and Zhuwawo mentioned possible abuse of funds by Jealousy Mawarire and party president, Ambrose Mutinhiri.^[3]

Mawarire reacted angrily to the leaked conversation, calling Jonathan Moyo a “bloody liar and petty thief.”^[4]

Values, Character and Culture

• The NPF is a Centre Left, Social Democratic Party whose core values shall be constitutionalism, a renewed patriotism, justice, equality, freedom, transparency and accountability;
• The NPF shall pursue economic and social advancement through embracing free market economic policies steered and regulated by State interventionism to secure the speedy economic liberation, empowerment and transformation of Zimbabwe;
• The NPF shall work to create opportunity for all to prosper and break the yoke of poverty, disease, hunger and ignorance;
• The NPF shall seek to create a government that will establish:

a) An advanced and dynamic economy built on global principles of a strong social service, protection of private property, investor friendly and competitive market. b) An open democracy, in which the national government is accountable to the people. c) A social, economic and political, environment that inspires hope, guarantees decent livelihoods and access to social services and amenities such as health, education, clean water, energy and an open endeavour to achieve sustainable happiness for all people. d) A refocus of Pan Africanism to secure the ideological grounding sufficient to overcome the millennial challenges of the African people. e) Respect for fundamental human rights and freedoms and their protection. f) A sustainable environmental and natural resources policy in which the environment is protected for future generations. g) The eradication of all forms of corruption, greed and rent seeking. h) The eradication of all forms of discrimination including that based on gender, sex, race, tribe, place of origin, ethnicity or religion. i) The sufficient representation of women in public office and the advancement and inclusion of young people in leadership roles. j) Support for families and build thereon societal values that conserves cultural values while eradicating harmful practices.

• The NPF subscribes only to the principles of peaceful and constitutional transfer of power and abhors the use of force, military coups or otherwise to coerce and usurp the democratic free will of the people.
• The NPF abhors all forms of factionalism, rumour mongering, slander and character assassination, and conspiracies.
• The NPF will put mechanism to reward success and embrace hard and honest work, it will further aspire the future of digital and technological advancement in all sectors including science, health, education and medicine, robotics, industrialization, research and development.

Consultation document

The party’s consultation document denounces the coup which occurred in November 2017. For more on the document click here.[File:National_Patriotic_Front_Consultation_Document.pdf New Patriotic Front Consultation Document]

Leadership Structure

• President:
• Vice President 1: To Be Announced
• Vice President 2: To Be Announced
• Secretary General: To Be Announced
• National Chairperson: Eunice Sandi-Moyo
• National Spokesperson: Jealousy Mawarire
• 10 Province Secretaries: To Be Announced

AU/SADC Petition

The National Patriotic Front (NPF) filed a petition to the African Union against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's government. The Petition to the African Union included unreleased minutes and details of what transpired during the November military takeover which ultimately resulted in the fall of former President Robert Mugabe after 37 years in power.^[1]

Call for opposition parties to work with NPF

Robert Mugabe’s nephew Patrick Zhuwao was reported to have said that opposition parties and pro-democracy groups had an obligation to work with and to support the new opposition party, the National Patriotic Front (NPF). According to Zhuwao, the NPF has a credible plan to reverse the “coup” by the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Writing in his weekly column, the Zhuwao Brief Reloaded, the former minister said

It is important to acknowledge that the NPF’s objective of reversing the bloody coup of 15 November 2017 is being feared and misinterpreted to suggest the return of President Mugabe as Head of State and Government. It would definitely be grossly unfair to President Mugabe to seek to burden and encumber him again with responsibilities for the state given his contribution to Zimbabwe thus far… … ZANU PF is dead. It is now an immutable fact that ZANU PF was murdered during the bloody coup of 15th November 2017. The stockholder mentality of the coup plotters and terrorist junta is to take ZANU PF as “chinhu chedu” (our thing) at the exclusion of the people. This exclusionary conceptualization of being the stockholders of ZANU PF whilst and every other member is regarded as being a mere stakeholder was articulated by Constantino Chiwenga in an interview during the 2017 Independence celebrations.

^[5]

Announcement of Presidential Candidate

In March 2018, Ambrose Mutinhiri was announced as the Presidential Candidate for 2018 elections. The press statement released read

PRESS STATEMENT Rtd Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri pays a courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe Harare-5 March 2018- Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri, who resigned from Parliament and Zanu PF last Friday over the unconstitutionality of the military coup that illegally imposed Emmerson Mnangagwa as President of Zimbabwe and led to the Army’s usurpation of the power and authority of civilian institutions including Zanu PF, paid a courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe at his Harare Blue Roof residence yesterday 4 March 2017.

Cde Mutinhiri is the Founding President and Presidential Candidate of the National Patriotic Front (NPF), whose formation was initiated on 19 November 2017 in direct response to the military coup four days earlier, and has come into fruition following an extensive private and public consultation process by its founding members.

The purpose of the courtesy call was to appraise. President Mugabe of Cde Mutinhiri’s bold and inspiring resignation as well as to thank the President for having afforded Cde Mutinhiri a cherished opportunity to work with and under him in various national capacities.

Cde Mutinhiri especially thanked President Mugabe for laying a solid and irreversible ground for generational renewal in Parliament and government through progressive policies that have empowered the youth who are now poised for unstoppable leadership roles across the political divide and in business, civil society, and churches.

Cde Mutinhiri also took the opportunity to inform President Mugabe of the formation of the NPF by a cross-section of Zimbabweans including but not limited to Zanu PF members who are outraged by the unconstitutional and humiliating manner in which President Mugabe was criminally ousted from the leadership of both Zanu PF and the country by real criminals who have shamelessly damaged Zimbabwe’s fledgling constitutional democracy and dented the professional reputation of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces. Cde Mutinhiri told President Mugabe that the result of all this is that there’s no constitutional order.

^[6]

Alleged Involvement of Robert Mugabe

The NPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire reportedly said the former President Robert Mugabe's involvement in the NPF was to cure the coup of November 2017.

References