ZANU PF Faction Targets Young Parliamentarians
A faction within the ruling ZANU-PF party pushing for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his presidency beyond the constitutional two-term limit is reportedly agitating for the ouster of young party parliamentarians, whom they accuse of undermining the so-called “2030 agenda” and lacking the party’s core ideology.
Speaking to TellZim News on condition of anonymity, fearing victimisation, some of the ZANU PF MPs said they are living in constant fear as the party heavyweights are actively working to remove them from their positions.
The young ZANU-PF parliamentarians claimed the problem started when the ruling party narrowly avoided losing to the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) after they voted for the controversial Public Voluntary Organisation (PVO) bill in parliament. Said one youthful ZANU PF MP:
Tiri panguva yakaoma (we are in difficult times); the problem started when we voted for the PVO bill in parliament and Zanu almost lost to the opposition. It was later realized that most of the young MPs from the party had just logged in and went out.
We are now being accused of resisting the push for the President to have another term as well as lacking party ideology.
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Their biggest fear is, that if the opposition MPs move a motion to impeach the President, they think we will support that.
Another ZANU PF MP, who claims to be a war veteran, accused the young MPs were betraying the party. He said:
They have no ideology; they are dealers so what they do is, they come to Parliament and sign the register and after that, they get in town to run their errands.
We almost lost to CCC legislators when we voted for the PVO bill. Something needs to be done or else the party is in serious problem.
However, ZANU PF chief whip Pupurai Togarepi who is also the MP for Gutu South, refuted the factionalism allegations, saying the ruling party trusts its MPs. Said Togarepi:
All our MPs are cadres of the party who were deployed to represent ZANU PF in parliament because of their loyalty and consistency.
All our MPs have gone through several ideological orientation through the Chitepo School of Ideology which makes them very sound and grounded.
The leadership is happy with the performance of the young MPs. I urge you to ignore the nonsense coming from uninformed sources.
There has been a lot of speculation and discussion about Mnangagwa potentially seeking a third term in office.
Recently, Mnangagwa publicly stated that he does not intend to run for a third term and plans to retire after completing his current term.
However, some political analysts and commentators are sceptical about the sincerity of this pledge.
More: Pindula News
