With the country’s main opposition MDC party at war with itself amid leadership wrangles and mass defections to Zanu PF, the ruling party says it cannot wait for 2023 elections to finish off its rivals.
This comes as Zanu PF has set a target to increase the number of its registered voters to five million to ensure a 65 percent victory in the next polls.
It also comes as President Emmerson Mnangagwa narrowly won the 2018 elections, garnering 50,67 percent of the vote against MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa’s 44,39 percent, although Zanu PF managed to get more than two thirds majority in Parliament.
Speaking to the Daily News on Sunday in an interview yesterday, Zanu PF secretary for administration Obert Mpofu said the ruling party would make use of its newly reconstructed district coordinating committees (DCCs) to mobilise support to ensure a landslide victory in 2023.
“We are a people-centred party and our presence should be well felt across the entire nation and our DCCs serve as that conduit for the party’s policy architecture to interface with all citizens of Zimbabwe, including Zanu PF outsiders.
“Our mass-line approach transcends the card carrying limits of our commissariat reach and membership. This is evidenced by the recent and forthcoming mass exodus of opposition stalwarts to Zanu PF,” Mpofu said.
“Our mobilisation scope is bigger than what our detractors narrowly seek to vilify. We are getting stronger by the day and the 2023 election is taking too long to arrive for Zanu PF to prove once more its popularity.”
This comes as dozens of MDC supporters, including bigwigs such as former MP Blessing Chebundo (Kwekwe Central), senators Lillian Timveous, James Makore and Obert Gutu, recently jumped the opposition ship to join Zanu PF.
Mpofu said contrary to reports of factional fights in Zanu PF triggered by the DCCs, the ruling party is united and ready to roar.
“In actual fact, we are united and geared up towards reclaiming our mandate to govern courtesy of the forthcoming 2023 elections.
“We are aware that the DCCs are the cog of Zanu PF’s powerbase. Therefore, the politburo is committed to strengthening the party constitutional function of the DCCs.
“This resonates with the broader national agenda of having national policies articulated and implemented directly at grassroots level,” said Mpofu.
DCC structures were disbanded in 2012 after the party felt that they were being used to propel divisions in Zanu PF.
The structures were brought back into the fold following the Esigodini Conference in December 2018, and their duties include supervising and monitoring party projects and rejuvenating the party.
This comes as independent observers have also predicted that the opposition in its current fractured state stands no chance against Zanu PF and its candidate in the next elections.
Last year, a British think tank predicted that Mnangagwa will romp to victory in the 2023 harmonised elections. – Daily News
