President Emmerson Mnangagwa who is also the president and first secretary of the ruling ZANU PF has banned party members from discussing their grievances in both the mainstream and social media.
He made the remarks during the party’s Politburo meeting held in the capital on Wednesday following chaotic District Coordinating Committees (DCC) elections held across the country.
Mnangagwa said instead of deepening divisions in ZANU PF, the DCC structures and the elections “must unite the party and act as a springboard for entrenching our party’s revolutionary ideology, constitutionalism and strong grassroots mobilisation.” He added:
Article 3 section 20, subsection 2 enshrines the right of members to be elected to any office of the party while sub section 7, gives members the right to seek remedy in respect of any grievance as a result of the action of any person in authority over him.
I, therefore, want to dissuade our members from using both mainstream and social media to express their grievances. Doing so brings the name of the party into disrepute. Following processes such as the DCC elections, party cadres are well within their rights to make presentations on matters of concern within the framework of our constitution.
However, in doing so loyalty and discipline, as expressed through understanding and adherence of the party constitution, ethics and guiding principles must always be at the core.
He speaks after some of the party’s senior officials including Rugare Gumbo have implored him to disband the DCCs saying they were a ploy by the ousted G40 and Gamatox factions to come back into ZANU PF and take power.
Some of the elections were temporarily suspended after clashes between supporters of aspiring candidates and some who are not happy with the outcome have been taking their anger to the media.
Mnangagwa’s directive comes barely a week after MDC Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, had also warned party members to desist from discussing party issues through social media platforms.
Some interpreted Chamisa’s directive as taking away the freedom of expression and conflicted to the party’s values and aspiration of fostering democracy in the country.
