Maravi

(NEWZIMBABWE) Zanu PF must change to be relevant: Nkomo

COMMENT - It would be interesting to know what Comrade John Nkomo means with being 'development oriented'. I hope it doesn't mean he has sold out to the neoliberals. That is for him to clarify.

Zanu PF must change to be relevant: Nkomo
by Staff Reporter
19/07/2010 00:00:00

VICE President John Nkomo says Zanu PF needs to shift from its liberation ethos into a development-oriented party in order to remain relevant.

Nkomo told party supporters and farmers in Masvingo South that having delivered on its pre-independence pledges, Zanu PF needed to change focus in order to remain relevant.

"(For) Zanu PF, this is the time for the party to shift from being a liberation movement to a party that is development-oriented if we are to continue being relevant to the needs of our people in the 21st century.

“We cannot continue being a liberation movement, that time is past us,” Nkomo is quoted as saying by the state-run Herald newspaper.

He said having brought independence and delivered on the key liberation struggle grievance of land, it was time the party considered a paradigm shift.

"We should now work on what we achieved after the successful execution of the armed struggle to bring majority rule. People yearn for development and that is what we must be synonymous with as a party," he said.

Nkomo’s remarks are likely to raise eyebrows, if not trigger outrage, in a party that postures itself as a national and regional bulwark against imperialism and neo-colonialism

Key figures in the party believe its liberation credentials have served it well in the bitter fight against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T which they have successfully cast as a local proxy for neo-colonial interests.

Again, for some in Zanu PF, the desire by former colonial power Britain to either directly ‘recolonise the country’ or reverse what they see as the gains of the liberation struggle is not altogether fanciful.

Labels: JOHN NKOMO, ZANU-PF

posted by MrK @ 3:47 PM