Staff Writer
Harare – What do you do when someone steers the ruling party and the country through a series of unprecedented successes?
The answer, according to Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, is quite simple: give him another term of office.
And this is exactly what he told delegates to the 7th ZANU PF National People’s Congress in Harare on Friday as the governing party formally and unanimously endorsed President Emmerson D Mnangagwa’s leadership for another five years.
This means ED will continue as ZANU PF’s First Secretary and President, and will be the party’s Presidential candidate in the 2023 general election.
At the official opening of the once-in-five-years Congress, his deputy at both party and State level, VP Chiwenga, said President Mnangagwa had led Zimbabwe and ZANU PF to several milestones since first assuming office in 2017.
The VP pointed to unprecedented infrastructure development, re-introduction of a domestic currency, and increased foreign currency inflows, among other notable achievements.
VP Chiwenga said the endorsement of President Mnangagwa by all party structures and congress was evidence of the confidence they retained in him.
“While this congress, is supposed to be an elective congress, the party membership through its structures and leagues have already clearly and unanimously endorsed comrade Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa as the President and First Secretary and as the sole Presidential candidate for the ruling party Zanu PF in the 2023 harmonised elections.
“The people have thus spoken, let their will be obeyed so that His Excellency comrade Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa can take us to the Zimbabwe we envision. He is the one and only candidate that we know. Shumba (Lion) Murambwi (President Mnangagwa’s totem), deserves another opportunity to lead us. He has the credentials, quality, personality, stature, history and track record to lead our party. Let us all register to vote for him and the party in 2023,” he told delegates to the congress.
“The miraculous transformation he has brought in the last five years guarantees him a thunderous victory in the 2023 harmonised elections. The story of our leader is akin to the philosophy around wine, if you want to enjoy its best give it time to mature. Let us give him another five years, I strongly believe that we are better off as a party and country if God grants our leader longevity and gracefully accords him many more years so that he propels our country to the land of our dreams.”
VP Chiwenga added that ED had “redefined the democratic space of our people in a manner that leaves political opponents awestruck”.
“Today, even opposition political parties grudgingly acknowledge his leadership … For instance, several high-ranking opposition figures have re-joined our great party ZANU PF. We now know that ED stands for Emmerson Delivers. Our party, ZANU PF, is therefore blessed to have him at its helm.,” he said.
The VP commended President Mnangagwa for championing the engagement and re-engagement agenda on the foreign policy front, and Vision 2030 – under which the country aims to become an upper middle-income economy – on the domestic side of things.
“The unambiguous international stance of our leader bids us all to be friends with everyone and have no enemies. Through the policy of engagement and re-engagement, the country has managed to unlock the unnecessary tension that has been hitherto limiting our potential to forge friendships and create business opportunities. Slowly but surely our country is opening up and attracting big businesses in various sectors,” he said.
VP Chiwenga said victory in the next elections was certain.
“Our party, ZANU PF, has a perennial track record of being a winner. Our winning formula is anchored on our foundational document, our party constitution. The party constitution enshrines tenets of unity, and peace as fundamental principles to guide our interactions both within and outside the party.”
