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Cde Khaya Moyo

Simon Khaya Moyo Special Correspondent
On December 22 2017, Zimbabwe celebrates Unity Day in honour of the Unity Accord of December 22, 1987 signed by the two erstwhile liberation icons, former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the late Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo (Father Zimbabwe) on behalf of the then liberation parties, ZANU-PF and PF-ZAPU respectively.

The two said liberation movements prosecuted the struggle to its logical conclusion per their liberation armies, ZANLA and ZIPRA. It is well known that the formation of the Patriotic Front in 1976 was the basis for the unity of the two liberation movements as the negotiations which ensued with the British in Geneva, Malta and Lancaster House Conferences testify.

When we attained independence in 1980, the two parties formed a unity government. It became desirable that the two parties engage in extensive and intensive negotiations to form one party.

These exchanges resulted in the signing of the Unity Accord of December 22, 1987 by then the two principals, leading to the formation of a united ZANU-PF.

In fact, this agreement formed the basis of unity of our people across the country and must be defended at all costs. Efforts to derail it must be discouraged. The letter and the spirit of the accord must be respected. The Unity Accord has no provision for factionalism.

I have, at all party conferences and other forums, spoken hard against factionalism, corruption, tribalism, regionalism and racism. The party constitution remains supreme. We have often heard of the existence of factions within our revolutionary party. No one should lead or belong to a faction.

A principled cadre can only belong to the party with one leader. In ZANU-PF, our leader is President Cde ED Mnangagwa and no one else. The recently held Extraordinary Congress of our glorious and revolutionary party ZANU-PF ratified this fact.

It is, therefore, incumbent upon all of us to celebrate Unity Day by reflecting and taking stock of our actions as we endeavour to fully subscribe to our party’s motto: Unity, Peace and Development.

The Unity Accord must be the heartbeat of our body politic. We must also focus on the implementation of Zim-Asset and move away from politics of division through factionalism.

Pretenders have no room in ZANU-PF. Corruption has no room in ZANU-PF. Those who give lip service to the revolution will regret their actions. After the successful hosting of our Extraordinary Congress last week, may I take the liberty on behalf of ZANU-PF leadership to wish you a happy Christmas and a prosperous 2018.

• Cde Simon Khaya Moyo is the ruling Zanu-PF Secretary for Information and Publicity and party spokesman.