‘We are going to be in power for a very long time’: Zanu PF’s Obert Mpofu

Zanu-PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu has declared that the ruling party will never surrender power saying they “are going to be in power for a very long time”.

Mpofu said this during a send-off ceremony for 36 Zanu-PF officials who left to join the Julius Nyerere Leadership Centre in Tanzania on Monday.

The centre in Tanzania was built and funded to the tune of US$40 million by the Chinese Communist Party.

“We are going to be in power for a very long time. We are not going to surrender power. We will always be the governing party,” Mpofu said.

Mpofu further revealed that Zanu PF leader, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, had to send the late minister and Airforce of Zimbabwe commander Perrance Shiri to Tanzania to lobby for support after the January 2019 protests as he felt that his grip on power was under threat.

Protests began in Zimbabwe on 14 January 2019 following a 130% increase in the price of fuel imposed by the Zanu-PF government.

Thousands of Zimbabweans protested against the price increase, along with increasing levels of poverty, the poor state of the economy, and declining standards of living before the security forces descended heavily on them to silence the revolts.

“President Mnangagwa had to dispatch the late air marshal Perrance Shiri to lobby for support in Tanzania after the stay away. The late Tanzanian President John Magufuli promised unwavering support and said all regime change machinations will be thwarted,” he said.

Mpofu added: “Tanzania was one of the first countries to train liberation fighters. I trained in Tanzania in 1968 where I was with the likes of Ambrose Mutinhiri. Mutinhiri was an instructor then,” he said.

Mpofu said the 36 people who are going to attend the Julius Nyerere Leadership Centre were drawn from the ruling party, public service and other institutions.

Zimbabwe is set to hold harmonised elections in 2023. The Zanu-PF party will face the newly formed opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.

The ruling party was recently defeated by CCC in the by-elections when it garnered 9 seats in the National Assembly against the opposition’s 19.

Commenting on Mpofu’s sentiments, former cabinet Minister Walter Mzembi said: “Ian Smith made a similar Declaration , ” not in thousand years ” after 16 years he was out !The Mpofu Declaration is a terminal fart!” Nehanda Radio