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Cde Gumbo

WHILE we do not want to pick fights with our seniors who we respect without any reservation whatsoever, we take great exception to statements made by zanu-pf national spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo who passed his own now well-known personal sentiments on The Herald as the zanu-pf position, and went to the extent of seeking to put words into President Mugabe’s mouth.

After yesterday’s Politburo meeting, Cde Gumbo told journalists that President Mugabe had expressed concern over The Herald which Cde Gumbo claimed was dividing the party.
Cde Gumbo’s exact words were: “He (the President) felt that the coverage in the media, particularly The Herald where the headlines all the time are destructive statements about the party, disparaging the party, exposing the party to unnecessary criticism. He felt that the media must inform on issues and not on personalities.”
Well ,we are not in the business of sparring with politicians, our province are news values.

As The Herald we report on events and do not create the news. It is up to Cde Gumbo and his colleagues in zanu-pf to stop the drama because the moment they make news, it is our duty to report on it as the goings on in zanu-pf, the governing party, do not only interest the public but are of public interest since the party informs Government.

Now as has become the norm, we checked with other Politburo members who attended the meeting and found out that the President expressed concern over some sections of the media that ran a story falsely claiming that his daughter, Mrs Bona Chikore, had grabbed a farm in Goromonzi.

Interestingly, Cde Gumbo did not share this important detail with the media.
The President did not mention The Herald by name. How the media is then crystallised to The Herald, only Cde Gumbo knows.
While we are flattered that the zanu-pf spokesperson considers us the be all and end all of the media, we are hardly amused when he passes his personal sentiments as the party or President’s position.

When Cde Gumbo wears the party hat, we expect him to articulate the party position, not his personal sentiments in pursuit of his own interests.
Given the misrepresentations he made yesterday on the Gono senatorial issue and about Politburo deliberations on September 3 pertaining to the issue of the purges of the youth that were going on in some provinces, we respectfully feel Cde Gumbo needs to revisit his terms of reference as party spokesperson.

Everything, however, becomes clearer as to why Cde Gumbo came out guns blazing in The Standard of last week saying no other party official should articulate the party position except him.

While that may arguably be the ideal situation if Cde Gumbo was doing his duties properly and professionally in the spirit of collective responsibility, the sad truth is the opposite, which is why more and more journalists are going to continue to ferret behind the scenes as to what would have actually transpired. In any event, we know that the Zanu PF Constitution imposes a duty on all its members to defend the party and we do not believe that this can be done in silence.

While we appreciate that Zanu-PF is currently riven by factional politics, Cde Gumbo must know that he speaks for the whole party, and should never misrepresent the position of the President and First Secretary on any issue for any reason.