ZANU PF successfully held its 7th National People’s Congress last week at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).

In the written and unwritten texts of this Party’s colossal existence, valour has coloured the foundation and walls on which its enduring name has firmly stood all this while.

This is the story that was being merrily outed in the beaming, brimming faces of delegates at the HICC.

An enticing story of the past, present and future. 

The seemingly irate heat stingily paved the way for some kind of dalliance with the rains, themselves a signal of brighter days ahead.

This, when future texts morph into chapters, is the real ZANU PF, a Party of the generations, a Party of the future.

And indeed when tomorrow comes, as it surely will, there will be a tale of how this rejuvenated Party weathered the imperial storm to lay to rest the insanity of some characters who feed off the lie that democracy can be birthed twice.

There, the masses devotedly converged for that consecrated gathering wherein the destiny and direction within which the country should take is determined as it has been since August 8 1963 when this sacrosanct Party was formed to carry the nation and the people’s dreams forward.

That dream, an enduring flame which has studiously withstood the test of time and lingered since then is still very much alive, steering the country towards its predetermined destiny.

May the spirit of the liberation struggle continue to bind this nation together!

At the HICC, there were progressive minds of this country setting the trajectory for the motherland in the envious, embittered eyes and presence of the country’s detractors.

‘ZANU PF is the people and the people are ZANU PF’ was the message.

The same message which has refused to bulk under the unrelenting waves of attacks from the country’s erstwhile colonisers.

And we will never tire of telling this anguish ridden story until the masses entangle with this compelling reality of time and times to come.

In the wretched wake of this country’s agonising journey towards the attainment of freedom and economic emancipation as well as empowerment, there has been relentless transgressions against the country to subdue it and return it back to the gluttonous hands of the enemy.

ZANU PF Congresses have always been about the country, about the people and forging an unbreakable bond with them.

In 1964, at its inaugural Congress in Gwelo (now Gweru), the Party leaders resolved to wage the armed struggle against the enemy.

An abridged version of the original speech delivered by the then ZANU President Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole on May 24 1964 in Gwelo in Mkoba Hall reads:

“Those who believe that the United Nations will bring us independence are greatly mistaken.

No one can liberate another.

Independence is not ours unless we liberated ourselves.

There is no such thing as being liberated by others.

Others can only help us to liberate ourselves.

We are our own liberators.

What method then is ZANU going to use in liberating this country?

This is the only true solution to the present problem.

We have the power in our hands. 

You will be detained.

You will be torn away from your families. 

In some cases, some of us may be shot dead.

But this is the price all human beings must pay to be free.”

This was followed by the ZANU Special Congress where the Party elected what essentially became independent Zimbabwe’s first Cabinet while consolidating the significant, innumerable inroads that had been made by the guerillas in freeing certain zones from what had seemed like an unflinching grip by the enemy.

1987 was about uniting the people through the historic signing of the Unity Accord which was sealed on December 22 1987.

Since then, several other Congresses have been about consolidating the Party and weeding out unruly elements as was the case in 2014 and 2017.

And the Party has remained standing and solid as ever.

“During the days of the liberation struggle it was about delivering independence, sovereignty and freedom to the people of the motherland, Zimbabwe. This was accomplished in 1980. ZANU PF delivers,” said President Emmerson Mnangagwa after being unanimously endorsed as the ruling Party’s sole Presidential candidate for the 2023 harmonised elections.

“Today, we remain focused on delivering a higher quality for our people, no matter where they live. “ZANU PF has been about the people, it will always be about the people, and for the people. 

“We are a mass Party, and our people-centred policies, programmes, values, and ethos will always guide us.

“As we gather at this historic Congress, we thus renew our commitment to what our Party stands as encapsulated in our Party Constitution. 

“The blood of the many sons and daughters of the soil who lost their lives and limbs for the freedom and independence we are enjoying emboldens us to strive for the prosperity of our nation. 

“Their lives were not lost in vain.

“We have our independence, and together we remain determined to defend it. 

“We have our land and together we are making it productive. 

“We have the minerals beneath our land, we are ensuring that these benefit the people of our great land. 

“We have a mission to accomplish; there are lives to improve; communities to develop and a nation to build. 

“This is the focus of ZANU PF now and into the future.” 

While ZANU PF was ensuring the country’s well-being, enemies were all over, prowling for an opening as has become the case.

Last week a certain unknown but vile Zimbabwean by the name Macdonald Moyo of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights told the 73rd session of the African Commission on Human Rights that his organisation was a recipient of Uncle Sam’s money for illegal regime change in the country.

“The Government of Zimbabwe receives money from the same source, yet when we receive funds from the US they don’t want,” he unwittingly let the wretched Uncle Sam cat out of its treacherous bag while justifying his sell-out activities to the bemused delegates.

But President Mnangagwa had a message which will put to an end the West’s intrusive insanity.

“The Party Election Manifesto will soon be launched, while the requisite election campaign material and resources are ready and will be distributed in due course,” he said. 

“More efficient distribution modalities are in place that will ensure that the Party regalia reach the ordinary Party members at the cell and village levels. 

“This will include distribution at cell level.”

As the country prepares for next year’s harmonised elections, all the madness by so-called activists and regime change agents will find its way to where it belongs – beneath the surface.