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Cde Rugare Gumbo

THE President Cde R.G Mugabe in his opening remarks expressed deep concern at the amount of indiscipline exercised by some party leaders in the provinces. He talked about premature campaigning by some leaders seeking positions at Congress. He said this thing must stop.

Use of money and vote buying in such campaigns destroys the unity of the party and he said this must stop again.

He felt that this would cause confusion among party members. He said the party must remain united at all times.

Self, individualism must never be allowed in the party.

Stern action or measures will be taken against those leaders who do not heed the President’s directive.

The President also went further to denounce factionalism in the party.

He was very critical of the media.

He 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 and also the leaders must focus on  issues and not on personalities and abuse of power.

We then looked at the forthcoming congress. The venue would be here in Harare at the place where we launched the anti-sanctions campaign.

It would be from the  9th  to 14 the of December. We have a congress committee which is headed by the President, Vice President, National Chairman and the secretary for Administration.

Then we have the national co-ordinating committee which is responsible for preparing the work of congress. This is headed by the National Chairman. It has a number of heads of departments assisting him.

Then we have sub-committee of the national coordinating committee headed by Cde Mnangagwa, organising committee headed Cde W Shamu, the security headed by Cde Sekeramayi, Information and Publicity headed by myself,  we have health headed by Dr Parirenyatwa, Women’s League headed by Cde Muchinguri.

And perhaps others I may have overlooked, but generally the  party is geared for the Congress.

We hope to have delegates, I think there will be probably about 8 691 and then we will also have observers and invited guests which will come to something about 12 000.

We have also confirmed the fundraising committee for the congress which consists of Cde Obert Mpofu, Cde Kasukuwere, Cde Mavhaire, Cde Tavengwa.

I think that’s all I can say unless you have questions, burning questions.

Aah, no we did discuss the issue of Cde Gono, the position of the party was made clear that we for the time being, we go along with what the chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) Justice Makarau said, but we will also look into other avenues of finding a way of ensuring that perhaps he can be nominated for that position. So that is the position.

The theme of the congress is not yet out we did debate it, we made proposals, but I think it will come out very soon. We don’t have to have a Politburo for that. We will sit down as a committee pamwe chete and have other two or so people to assist us.

Question: When you spoke about discipline in the party you said strong action can be taken against those who do not heed the President’s warning. What sort of action can that be?

Answer: I can’t define what action will be taken. I think we have a disciplinary committee headed by Cde SK Moyo, if we see some defiance or if we see some incidents where people are doing things which are wrong they can be referred to the disciplinary committee.

Q: Did you by any way discuss the squabbles in Mashonaland West? 
A: No we didn’t discuss it all, but the President made reference to it that it was not necessary for such things to have taken place.

Q: Is any action is going to be taken against those . . .
A: If any action is going to take place it will be done by the national disciplinary committee.

Q: You spoke about Dr Gono and you said you go by what the chairperson of zec said. Is it likely that you have to  go to the second position on the list.
A: I thought I was very clear. I said we will go along with what the chairperson said, but we say the legal committee has been directed to look into other ways of finding a way forward.

Q: And did you discuss about the so-called spy issues?
A: No. Zvaperaka hamuchina mivhunzo sei?