THE National People’s Party’s (NPP) convention to elect a substantive leaders set for this month hangs in the balance owing to “logistical challenges”, an official has said.
By NQOBANI NDLOVU
The NPP, led by former Vice-President, Joice Mujuru, set July as the month for holding the convention, but indications are the party’s congress will be pushed forward to attend to simmering divisions and recent defections that have left the party weakened.
NPP spokesperson, Methuseli Moyo yesterday said the party’s provincial structures have been put on “stand-by” pending the finalisation of logistical challenges to allow the holding of the convention to go ahead.
“The preparations are going on very well. We have just been held back by logistical challenges, which we are confident we will take care of. Our provinces have been put on standby and are ready to roll into the capital for the inaugural NPP convention,” he said.
Mujuru, early this month held a “secret convention” to fill in vacant posts in the youth, women and war veterans’ wing, as the party edges closer to its main convention.
NPP suffered mass defections of officials recently, with the rebels citing tribalism, factionalism and imposition of candidates, as the reason for dumping the party.
The holding of a convention to elect a substantive NPP leadership is seen as necessary to strengthen the party’s bargaining power during the doddering talks with other opposition parties to form a united front against Zanu PF in next year’s elections.
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Moyo expressed hope that NPP will emerge stronger after the convention that will also be used as a platform to launch the party’s 2018 election campaigns.
“We are aware of the activities and electioneering by Zanu PF. We promise the masses that NPP will be up to the task. We are not haggling with other opposition parties; we are knitting together the coalition pact. We were never under any illusion that it was going to be easy but so far so good,” he said.
“Our convention will pitch the tone for our policies and programmes to 2018 and beyond. NPP is determined to give Zimbabweans the Zimbabwe they yearn for. We have a proposed date and certainly, we will definitely hold our convention soon.”
Mujuru launched NPP after severing ties with former Zanu PF bigwigs, Didymus Mutasa and Rugare Gumbo, with whom they had formed the Zimbabwe People First after they were booted out of Zanu PF on charges of plotting President Robert Mugabe’s ouster.
