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Bulawayo Bureau
ZANU-PF will no longer tolerate leaders who use money and bribery to get leadership positions as everyone must pass through the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology, the party’s national commissar, Cde Engelbert Rugeje said yesterday.

He said gone are the days when people would bulldoze their way and use their influence to land party positions.

Speaking during a five-day ideology training for trainers at Davies Hall as part of the re-orientation programme for party cadres in Bulawayo, Cde Rugeje said the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology would soon be decentralised to all provinces with plans to build a fully-fledged college at Nyabira in Mashonaland West Province.

“We want us, everyone who is a member of Zanu-PF to have learnt about the party’s ideology and vision from the Chitepo School of Ideology.

“It’s now a thing of the past that you have people just joining by mere acquisition of a party card. You have to go through the Chitepo School so that you understand what Zanu-PF means and its vision then you can be part of the structures,” said Cde Rugeje.

“We no longer want to just pick up people from anywhere and they regard themselves as Zanu-PF.

“As from now, no one can assume a position without having completed ideological education. For one to be a branch chair, district chair going up they have to have done a course in ideology.”

He said there are plans to decentralise the Chitepo School of Ideology to all provinces so that all party members can access it.

“We want to establish a degree at Chitepo College. We are planning to construct a fully-fledged college in Nyabira, but we have since got a place at Harare South Club to do our programmes there. We have plans that every college will have its provincial school,” he said.

Cde Rugeje said in the next six months, every Zanu-PF member should have done a programme with the school so trainers must go back to their districts to train other members.

The Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology was established after the revolutionary party recognised the need to impart foundational philosophies regarding the country’s history.

In attendance were Politburo members Cdes David Parirenyatwa, Mike Bimha, Chitepo School of Ideology principal Cde Munyaradzi Machacha , Cdes Patrick Hove and George Nare among others.

The Politburo members are in Bulawayo for the restructuring exercise.

Cde Rugeje and his team later visited Cowdray Park to thank the Zanu-PF supporters for voting for Cde Kidwell Mujuru who won in the council by election.

In his address, Cde Rugeje said Vice President Kembo Mohadi is expected to come and thank the people of Cowdray Park for heeding his call to vote for Zanu-PF.