Mnangagwa postpones politburo for cabinet
Zanu PF was set to hold a politburo meeting in the capital yesterday to signal the commencement of processes leading to its extraordinary congress on Friday.
However, Zanu PF spokesperson Simon Khaya Moyo announced at the last minute that the indaba had been postponed to today.
“The Zanu PF politburo meeting scheduled for today (yesterday) has been postponed to tomorrow (today) while the central committee that had been scheduled for tomorrow (today) will be held on Thursday.
Members who have been affected are expected to be seated at the usual venue by 10am,” Khaya Moyo said.
While Khaya Moyo did not give reason for the postponement, government sources told the Daily News that in line with Mnangagwa’s dream for a complete departure from former president Robert Mugabe’s modus operandi, he had insisted that it was not prudent to prematurely end a
Cabinet meeting to accommodate party business.
“There were proposals that some of the Cabinet discussions be shelved to allow time for the politburo given that congress is around the corner but H.E maintained that government business must always come before all else,” a government official privy to cabinet gongs on said.
During Mugabe’s reign, Zanu PF programmes were of primacy over government business.
For instance, when Mugabe’s wife Grace, as Zanu PF women’s league secretary, held her controversial countrywide rallies, they almost always dealt a major blow on government business as ministers abandoned their work stations to attend the whistle stop tours.
Since she entered the political fray following the ouster of former vice president Joice Mujuru in 2014, dozens of Cabinet ministers would make a bee line to Grace’s rallies, leaving their offices manned by deputy ministers and permanent secretaries.
The same applied when Mugabe himself held his equally controversial interface rallies with youths as ministers would abandon their duties to attend the rallies for fear of being labelled as opposed to his rule.
Opposition political parties often complained about Zanu PF conflation with the State to the extent that it had become difficult to make a distinction between party business and the officials’ public service obligations.
The Zanu PF congress is set to confirm Mnangagwa as the party’s first secretary as well as its presidential candidate for the elections scheduled for not later than August next year. DailyNews
