FORMER Vice-President Joice Mujuru is set to rejoin Zanu-PF as the party moves to embrace defectors and members that were expelled from the party by the previous party administration led by former President Mugabe, Sunday News can exclusively reveal.
Speaking on the sidelines of victory celebrations for Zanu-PF councillor, Kidwell Mujuru who won Bulawayo’s only council seat in last week’s by-election in Cowdray Park, Secretary for Administration, Dr Obert Mpofu, said the party was making changes and accepting its lost sheep.
“You will be seeing the new dispensation arrangement where we have fulltime members of the party, you will see a different Zanu-PF in terms of operations and effectiveness because we are not closing anyone out, we have agreed that all members who were expelled from the party or who left the party should come back.
“We have been approached by all the parties and now Mujuru (Joice) is coming back to Zanu-PF, Ambrose Mutinhiri has come back and many others have come back. This is not politicking but reality, I am getting a lot of appointments with opposition party members wanting to come back and it’s enough pointer that President Mnangagwa is a unifying leader,” he said.
Dr Mpofu said the restructuring that was going on within the party had seen members that have been expelled tracking back as they were still interested in working for the party.
“This restructuring exercise has actually given the members that sympathise with us some hope of participating in the party they love. The previous system was so restrictive that members were not allowed to exercise their democratic right to participate in the party. So this is one of the benefits and results in the last few weeks following the dissolution of Bulawayo Province for one,” he said.
Looking at the 2023 elections, Dr Mpofu said the victory of the party in the Bulawayo by-election was a tiny portion of what was yet to come.
“Come 2023 elections you will see a different Bulawayo all together because we are now involved in the politics of the province. Previously there was reluctance from the leadership of Bulawayo, in other members of the party coming to assist them. It was a closed area so now I am the Secretary of Administration in the party, I have allowed the leadership of Zanu-PF to go anywhere in the country to mobilise. There are no enclaves now where people say we own Bulawayo and that they are the true Bulawayo,” he said.
Dr Mpofu, however, said there was gross indiscipline within Bulawayo Province’s party structures. “I come from Matabeleland North, there is discipline in Mat North so we want to do the same for Bulawayo and instill discipline because there is a lot of indiscipline; people came to the party for their personal benefits only instead of serving the party. There are some people who had three party vehicles for themselves and doing nothing to further the party’s interests,” he lamented.
Turning to the election victory by Kidwell Mujuru, he said it was a historic election in the history of Bulawayo.
Kidwell Mujuru said his main thrust was on development of Cowdray Park which had over 36 000 households.
