Zanu PF national commissar Webster Shamu, battling to contain fierce infighting in the former sole ruling partys structures, has castigated members fomenting divisions and perpetrating intra-party violence.
Shamus concerns were raised after public clashes between Zanu PF supporters over district co-ordinating committee elections in Manicaland and Masvingo provinces last week.
The clashes have threatened to tear apart the liberation war party, in power since independence in 1980.
Shamu blamed the chaos on supporters he said did not understand the partys ideology.
Our people are suffering from the need to have a better understanding of the ideology of the party, he told NewsDay in an interview.
The cadres are there, ready, and we now need to do more work on ideologies of the party. If I get criticism from you, I accept that you want me to be a better leader.
I cant be right all the time. We did not go to war for factionalism, tribalism or divisions.
If I am in the structure of the party, that structure will decide what to do.
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Zanu PF in the past has managed to play down divisions within its ranks, but in the past few weeks they have become difficult to hide.
Analysts say the factionalism is worsened by the fight to succeed the 88-year-old Robert Mugabe between Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Shamu admitted there were divisions in the party and urged supporters to close ranks.
Differences are there, but they are healthy differences because people say, Why did I lose? I should have won, he said.
Zanu PF is not about individuals, its not about Shamu, and its about an institution whose life goes beyond my life as a human being, he said. He said the election process in the districts was meant to curb vote-buying as some party officials were guilty of the practice.
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