Thursday, August 18, 2016

Zanu-PF Hails Chitepo Ideological School
August 19, 2016
Lloyd Gumbo
Herald Reporter

Zanu-PF has hailed the Chitepo Ideological College programme that kicked off with the first enrolment of its Members of Parliament in June this year.

The ruling party said the MPs who had gone through the programme were now well-equipped to articulate the party ideology when debating in the august House.

In an interview with The Herald after a party caucus at the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare on Wednesday, Chief Whip Cde Lovemore Matuke said, it was gratifying that almost all the revolutionary party’s MPs took the programme seriously.

“We are half-way through the syllabus, and we are happy with what has been happening so far,” said Cde Matuke.

“Today, we were concentrating on the Zimbabwean history since its formation to 1980. We were looking at the command side and the political side.

“What I can say is that the programme has been very useful. Some of our MPs came into Parliament through waivers where some were not in the party structures. But now, they are gaining a lot of understanding on the party history.

“They now know how to handle political issues and the history of our party. Now they know the importance of the leadership who played a major role in the liberation struggle. A number of our MPs can now provide meaningful debate in Parliament.”

Cde Matuke recently said no party official including sitting MPs would stand as party candidates in the 2018 harmonised elections, without going through the Chitepo Ideological College.

“The issues of Chitepo Ideological College is starting with Members of Parliament, but will cascade down to every section and structure of our country.

In 2018, no candidate will contest on the Zanu-PF ticket without going through the Chitepo Ideological College.”

Cde Matuke said MPs would be attending the workshops every Wednesday until the end of September when they will graduate after successfully completing the course.

He said after that, the workshops will be decentralised to provinces, districts to cell level to ensure that every party member was correctly oriented.

Zanu-PF President and First Secretary is expected to officially launch the workshops in due course.

President Mugabe has been consistently calling for the establishment of the Chitepo Ideological College that was mooted soon after the country gained Independence in 1980.

War veterans at their meeting with President Mugabe in April also said there was need to immediately operationalise the Chitepo Ideological College without necessarily waiting for the construction of a structure.

They said there was deterioration of patriotism and understanding of the Zanu-PF ideology within its structures, particularly by those who did not participate in the liberation struggle.

No comments: