Mugabe’s Zanu PF set to amend constitution to accommodate a female Vice President

The special congress will put the succession issue to rest….

President Mugabe will be confirmed as the ruling Zanu-PF’s candidate in next year’s Presidential election during an Extraordinary Congress slated for December after the party’s 10 provinces passed the resolution over the weekend.

 The Extraordinary Congress, which comes before the regular congress that was due in 2019, will be held in place of a scheduled Annual National People’s Conference in December 2018.

Mashonaland West, Midlands, Bulawayo and Matabeleland South provinces affirmed the First Secretary, President Mugabe, as the ruling party’s candidate on Saturday while the remaining provinces passed the resolution yesterday.

In an interview with The Herald after the Harare Provincial Executive Council (PEC)meeting, provincial spokesperson Dr Abicia Ushewokunze said the resolution to hold an Extraordinary Congress to affirm President Mugabe as the party’s sole candidate was unanimous.

He said the PEC also resolved to amend the 2014 party constitution “to accommodate issues to do with the Youth and Women’s Leagues”, with the resolution to have a female Vice President taking centre stage.

“That President Mugabe is the sole candidate is not a debate, but idzokororo (repetition). We resolved that the constitution be amended as there are a number of issues yet to be addressed, especially the Women’s League resolution on Vice Presidents. All conferences have passed this resolution, the party’s 10 provinces agreed and the President apologised for this oversight at the party HQ recently. In future people will think resolutions are just passed for the sake of concluding a conference yet this is not the case,” Dr Ushewokunze said.

All the party wings unanimously endorsed the motion, with Women’s League chairperson, Cde Estry Mlambo-Madhuku, saying the special congress will put the succession issue to rest.

“We want to reaffirm our position as the Women’s League in Manicaland of being solidly behind President Mugabe. We have been advocating having one of the Vice-Presidents being a women(believed to be Grace Mugabe) and the December special conference will help us to resolve this issue,” she said.