5.0
The Zanu PF
Conference:
Opulence Amidst
Poverty
THE much-hyped Zanu PF
national conference came
and went, and with it, the
millions of US dollars that
were expended to make the
conference a success.
Pic: NewsDay
The party president, Emmerson
Mnangagwa and his deputy
Constantino Chiwenga flew by
helicopter into the usually quiet
town of Bindura, which is
surrounded by farming and rural
communities where poverty is the
norm.
As the party in government, Zanu
PF could have used the conference
to address pertinent questions of
the day, and these include the
flailing economy underpinned by
the free-falling Zimbabwe dollar
and the country’s worsening
human rights record.
Instead, it became a mega show of
wealth and opulence, a fete where
the latest vehicles were the major
highlight; much more like a
middle finger to the poor
Zimbabweans and a message that
said, everyone else is on their own.
Everything of importance was
simply ignored: the worsening
plight of civil servants; the hungry
and livid war veterans; the
stressed and jobless youths;
women and persons with
disabilities.