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Is Zanu PF porous?

Opinion & Analysis
THE admission by the ruling Zanu PF party that they hired incarcerated Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudakwashe Kudzayi to run their aggressive media campaign ahead of last year’s elections is revealing in many aspects of it, to say the least.

THE admission by the ruling Zanu PF party that they hired incarcerated Sunday Mail editor Edmund Kudakwashe Kudzayi to run their aggressive media campaign ahead of last year’s elections is revealing in many aspects of it, to say the least.

NewsDay Editorial

On top of all what he did for Zanu PF, Kudzayi is now being tormented for allegedly undermining party leader President Robert Mugabe and other acts of terrorism.

It is unfortunate because after reportedly thumping Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC-T during the July 31 2013 elections precisely using Kudzayi’s catchy campaign messages, Zanu PF now claims he belongs to the opposition party.

How ironic that Zanu PF found it prudent to hire an opposition apparatchik to run their media campaign thinking that they would change his mindset if at all what is being peddled is anything to go by.

Zimbabweans are now aware that Kudzayi worked in party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo’s media and publicity office prior to the elections until his appointment as Sunday Mail editor.

Gumbo said: “It’s true he [Kudzayi] worked for the party as part of the media campaign team. He was recruited last year.” The hiring of Kudzayi itself shows that Zanu PF has an intellectual “supermassive black hole”. It is admirable that Zanu PF realised its shortcomings and hired someone to spruce up its image, a feat that any political leader must take to restore their integrity. Whoever entered into the negotiations is no longer an issue. But it is regrettable that Zanu PF has depended on hiring consultants all this time to prop itself and remain in power.

One cannot imagine what would have happened had Mugabe not poured his unsavoury vitriol on Information minister Jonathan Moyo at the burial of the late Information minister Nathan Shamuyarira.

Is Kudzayi being used as a scapegoat in the succession politics pitting Vice-President Joice Mujuru and Justice minister Emmerson Mnangagwa? Is Moyo really behind Kudzayi or he was simply shoved in his face to reward him given he was already working in Gumbo’s office before he became minister? Was Mugabe aware of the goings-on during the campaign period vis-à-vis individuals behind his re-election campaign?

If it is indeed true that Kudzayi was a double agent, then the porosity of the ruling Zanu PF is shocking for a party presiding over the welfare of this great country — Zimbabwe.

Suffice to say being a consultant does not necessarily follow that one has to be loyal to the person hiring him. It was purely business — period! It is clear that Kudzayi was purely a media consultant entrusted with running the Zanu PF campaign, and whether they decided to pay him with the Sunday Mail editorship does not follow that he was their member.

It is pertinent to point out that Zanu PF has been in power for 34 years — four of which were in the Government of National Unity with MDC parties and legitimately, cannot continue to play the victim. Due diligence was supposed to be done before engaging Kudzayi otherwise he could be a victim of power struggles in Zanu PF ahead of the December elective congress.

How then does Zanu PF claim being infiltrated by so-called “weevils” when it hires just about anybody to run its programmes because it lacks capacity? Zanu PF cannot have its cake and eat it too.

Certain very senior individuals must face the music and not Kudzayi. Time for scapegoats is long gone. It is important for Zanu PF to self-introspect for the benefit of the country going forward.