FORMER Zanu PF politburo member Cephas Msipa has urged civil servants to remain apolitical and defy politicians who push them to act in a partisan manner.
BY NQOBANI NDLOVU
Addressing delegates attending a Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (Zimta) annual conference in Harare on Saturday, Msipa described “politicians masquerading as civil servants as unprofessionals”.
“Members of the civil service should not obey orders directing them to be partisan. And no member of the civil service should act in a partisan manner in whatever way. By acting in a partisan manner, you violate the Constitution of Zimbabwe,” Msipa, who is a former teacher and journalist, said.
Msipa, who quit active politics a few years ago, once served as an executive member of the Rhodesian African Teachers’ Union between 1961 and 1964.
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“What is worrying about this issue is that according to my observation, the very authors of the Constitution and those who are supposed to protect it are violating it by getting involved in politics while they are civil servants,” he said.
“Please, teachers, remain apolitical because you have an important role to play for the country’s development.”
Some top civil servants have been accused by opposition parties and civic groups of openly declaring their allegiance to the ruling Zanu PF party.
Recently, Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri confirmed that State security organs played a critical role in stopping the MDCs from unseating Zanu PF in the past elections.
Chihuri, during a graduation ceremony at Mt Carmel Institute of Business Intelligence where he was conferred with a Doctor of Philosophy degree, said details of police heavy handedness against opposition activists formed part of his thesis titled Policing in Zimbabwe, Pre-colonial, Colonial and Post-Independence Zimbabwe.