AFTER two false starts, former Vice-President Joice Mujuru’s opposition National People’s Party (NPP) has now fixed a date for its inaugural convention to endorse the party leadership.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The party’s interim secretary-general, Gift Nyandoro yesterday said the NPP convention will be held on August 9 at the City Sports Centre in Harare, with nearly 5 000 delegates expected to attend and come up with campaign strategies for next year’s general elections.
“We are going to be holding the convention, which will be historic in that it will be the day when NPP will adopt its constitution signalling its legal birth, as it were. We also expect resolutions that will map the direction for the party to be passed by the convention,” he said.
Nyandoro said delegates will also endorse the party leaders, who were nominated and elected during provincial conventions held throughout the country early this year.
On two occasions, the party was forced to postpone its convention dates, as it battled to contain internal fissures, particularly in Bulawayo and some teething problems, which had remained unresolved since Mujuru’s break-up with former erstwhile colleagues, Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa in March this year.
“The Bulawayo province issues have been resolved and everything is on course. We are pulling in the direction of the convention and everything is good to go,” Nyandoro said. Mujuru is set to be endorsed as substantive party leader, with Samuel Sipepa Nkomo and John Mvundura as her two deputies.
Dzikamai Mavhaire is expected to be endorsed as the party national chairperson, while Nyadoro will be confirmed as the secretary-general.
