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ZANU-PF’s 15th National People’s Conference has come and gone and contrary to the rantings of nabobs of negativity who had wished for blood and gore, deliberations centred on the Conference theme, “Consolidating People’s Power Through Zim-Asset’’. As we reported yesterday, enhancing economic performance, tackling corruption and reinvigorating Zim-Asset are part of the key resolutions from the Conference as evidenced by the thrust of all presentations made by Cabinet ministers that dwelt on bread and butter issues.

In the aftermath of the highly successful Conference, which also took stock of how far Zanu-PF has gone in delivering on its electoral promises that are enshrined in the five-year economic blueprint, Zim-Asset, we hope the party leadership will be true to the conference theme by working to consolidate people’s power by delivering on Zim-Asset.

Gone should be the petty fights that were fanned by the reactionary private media which feverishly sought to portray the picture of a party in crisis even as Government showed through the mega-deals and the high profile visits from China and Russia that culminated in the historic visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping, that they had kept their eye on the ball by courting investments to drive the key pillars of Zim-Asset.

Detractors who were caught flat-footed by developments in Victoria Falls will not let up as they seek to set brother against brother and it is incumbent on Zanu-PF members to know which are worthy battles and which are contrived distractions.

We will not seek to prescribe for the party what to do with its membership serve to remind the party leadership that they scored stunning victories against the opposition in 2013 on the back of brilliant, pro-people policies that have been synthesised into Zim-Asset.

The opposition and its allies in the so-called civil society and their media embeds do not wish for a Team Zanu-PF where Zim-Asset is concerned, as they are still to recover from the crushing defeat they suffered at the hands of a united Zanu-PF in the 2013 harmonised elections.

To this end, we urge the Zanu-PF leadership to put shoulders to the wheel as Team Zanu-PF and deliver on the Zim-Asset by following through on resolutions made in Victoria Falls.

It is said sameness is a disease of progress.

While Zanu-PF is rooted in the founding pillars of the Zimbabwean state and has a clear ideology centred on the national interest, it should be expected that a party that commands millions in membership will obviously have differences here and there among the membership.

However, that should not be treated as anathema, but just an expression of internal democracy. Zim-Asset should be the watchword going forward and those who seek to detract from the party’s delivery on this critical blueprint through petty squabbles should be given the boot.