President Robert Mugabe yesterday castigated attacks on the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe by some Zanu-PF youths saying such lack of discipline would not be tolerated in the party.
Speaking at his 92nd birthday celebrations at the Great Zimbabwe Monuments in Masvingo, Mugabe bemoaned lack of discipline among some youths who have been attacking the leadership lately saying the Youth League would be supported in censuring those found on the wrong.
Mugabe also condemned leaders fanning factionalism within the party by sponsoring youths to pursue their agendas. Responding to Zanu-PF Secretary for Youth Affairs Pupurai Togarepi’s earlier address, Mugabe said he was happy with efforts to preserve the status of the structure by strongly discouraging wayward and disrespectful behaviour among its ranks.
“Now if you look at the way they are behaving, you wonder if they are drunk or they would have smoked marijuana. They insult elders and even go on to insult party leaders. It’s shameful. They even insult Amai Mugabe, the wife of the , taking them (insults) to Al Jazeera, composing and recording songs on that. Who are they doing this for? Who are the enemies amongst us? Youths who were brought up in proper homes, with their fathers and mothers would not dare say such words,” said Mugabe.
“We got to a point of asking if the Youth League was aware of all this, but I was relieved when I heard Togarepi saying they would deal with such elements, discipline them and chuck them out of our party. We cannot have people with such mentality. Never, never! We cannot lead such misguided youth. No! The youths have got to be well disciplined, well behaved and respectful, and among ourselves too as elders, because we are the ones who will be behind these youths, inciting them. We’ve got to know, understand that as we destroy the culture of respect among ourselves, we are destroying the unity of our nation and oneness we need for our people to continue to work together. We don’t want that.”
Mugabe called on the youth to blow the whistle on officials causing divisions and factionalism in the party saying some senior members were behind the sponsoring of factionalism in the party.
“Factionalism, factionalism and I repeat, factionalism has no space, it has no place at all in our party Zanu-PF. It should never be allowed to exist because we have platforms for discussions, platforms for pitting one idea against another and for entertaining even views which are negative, we examine them and throw them out even if we don’t see any merits in them,” said Mugabe.
“The genesis of factionalism seems to be coming from the senior party members, the so called political gurus who are using the youth in pursuit of their own evil interests, taking advantage of the challenges affecting the youths today. Power will never come through such means. You don’t get into power through fighting among yourselves. There is only one way, just one way which is the Zanu way, to any position or positions in the party. It is the way of the people, you must be chosen by the people and the people must see you and judge you from your works, from what you do, what you say, how you act, how you interact. Are you a well behaved person, are you a hard worker, what record have you in the party to deserve this position or that position? Those things must be taken together.”
Mugabe pledged his support to the Youth League but said there was a need for discipline in all the party’s wings.
“If the youths lose focus, we are done, if the Women’s League does the same, we are done as a party. Those wings should be strengthened so that there is unity. The idea of insulting each other, we have always said down with that,” said Mugabe adding that the party needs to work hard to maintain its dominance in the political playing field.
“People showed us in 2013 that they are behind us. Some parties have split beyond recognition and you can’t even patch them up together anymore. Those who split from MDC-T, you can’t even tell what they call themselves now. There are also those who came from us. They have tried taking our name but modified it a little bit and called themselves People First. Soon they will split and you will soon hear there is a people second, people third and people fourth,” said Mugabe.
He paid tribute to Togarepi for the successful hosting of the party and also revealing that the Youth Affairs Secretary had assured him that there won’t be any incident of chaos at the event.
“I’m proud of you but be strong because there are some wayward youths, we want to see discipline, direction and principles,” said Mugabe who also described Togarepi’s deputy Kudzai Chipanga as dynamic and jokingly spoke about how he was on the news for allegedly threatening war veterans before clearing the air that the youth leader actually did not threaten the former freedom fighters. The said the youths have to work harmoniously with the former freedom fighters.
Mugabe called for discipline among the youths and war veterans and for both to adhere to discipline and the principles of the party. He also spoke against the abuse of liberation war credentials by some war veterans who want to use their status to domineer over others as everyone was important in the party.
“Now together, we must find our way to the problems that we face together. They will have a lot to learn from the war veterans of course because they are war veterans, they fought the war but I don’t want them (youths) to be bullied,” he said.
“Let us use that principle, take advantage of that principle of sitting down to discuss our differences. They call it the principle of dialogue. We should remain united and use proven channels to solve our differences.”
Mugabe said while people embrace Information Communication Technology (ICT) particularly social media in broad areas of research and communication, there was a need for responsible use of those platforms as they should not be used to carry anti-social and divisive activities.
Commenting on the choice of the historically rich Great Zimbabwe Monuments, Mugabe said, “We have come to this special place. There were our fathers, our ancestors, the likes of Munhumutapa. Your decision to host this party here was no coincidence. It’s a decision that has a lot of intrinsic significance. We get the inspiration from our ancestors and ancestral spirits will inspire us to leave this place with a new spirit to work for Zimbabwe.
“We called ourselves Zimbabwe not Rhodesia because of this place, so that we stay in touch with our ancestors and be one with those that left, those who are here and our future generations. That spirit should fill you, it should fill you and inspire you to desist from tribalism. Yes, Masvingo people are the custodians of this place, no one doesn’t know that they are the hosts, but this does not mean that Togarepi who is from here should give people from here priority. Even us, as we come from where we come from we must shun nepotism. If one is your relative and they are qualified you may give them the position, it is allowed. We don’t want nepotism.
“These structures would not have been, had our ancestors not been united, these structures were not built by people who were not united, they were not built by people who were not brave, they were not built by people who were not focused. This would not have been possible if people were fighting among themselves. There were ways, ways which we inherited from our elders, ways that came from ancient times.”
In his address, Togarepi said there were some misguided elements within the youths bent on destabilising the party and threatened to rein over those found on the wrong side. He also deplored the use of social networks to create discord within the party instead of tackling developmental issues that will help the country.
“I feel ashamed when the First Family is denigrated by our youths. Some youths want to cause destabilisation within the party and we want to rein over them. When attacking the First Family, these youths are targeting our revolution. I would ask for permission from you, to discipline misguided elements within our youth and even remove them from positions with your guidance,” said Togarepi.
He said that youths are behind the First Family and guard Mugabe’s legacy as young people without fear.
“As youths we are going to guard your legacy jealousy and support one centre of power, Gushungo. We call upon the Government to regulate the national youth services in schools for our young people, the same way the party wants to establish Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology,” he said.
Masvingo acting Zanu-PF chairman Amasa Nenjana distanced the province from the attacks that the First Lady received from some malcontents and declared unconditional support on her.
“We are not part of those who attack the First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe. We are fully behind her and those who are talking bad about her do not belong to us. We are united here in Masvingo and we would continue supporting the and the First Family,” he said.
National Youth Political Commissar Innocent Hamandishe said attacking the First Lady was tantamount to attacking the youth and that will not be tolerated.
“We respect our leaders as youths and it is a lie that our Deputy National Youth Secretary Kudzanai Chipanga attacked the war veterans as it has been reported in the media. We respect our war veterans and besides, his father is a full war veteran and the mother is in the structures,” said Hamandishe.
Secretary for Administration Luis Matutu thanked Mugabe for helping the youth in shaping their future through education but, however, apologised for the insults that some members have uttered to the party leadership.
“We thank you, Gushungo for the direction you have showed us. We are indebted as youths and we shall continue supporting the revolution. We, however, apologise for wayward behaviour shown by some of our youths,” said Matutu.-State Media