PRESSURE group, Children of Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans’ Association (CZNLWVA) has claimed that 90% of the top leadership of the Zanu PF youth league is either too old or “are sell outs”.
BY KUDZAI MUCHENJEKWA/ TAFADZWA MUTACHA
National chairperson Innocent Mhlanga said there were many youth league executives aged over 35 years in violation of the Zanu PF constitution.
“The Zanu PF constitution is very clear on that issue that the cut-off age must be 35, but we have a number of youth league executive members who are aged 40 years and some of them are 45,” he said.
Zanu PF youth league leader Pupurai Togarepi is 54.
But the ruling party’s deputy youth secretary Lewis Matutu said while he understood where CZNLWVA was coming from as youth, the organisation must respect the party’s procedures and wait for their time.
“I respect their opinion and I think one thing that must be made clear is that when we hold elections, someone who is 32 might get elected and by the time they finish their term, they will be above 35,” Matutu said.
“It’s unfair to say that we have older people.
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Elections are next year and they will have a chance to vote for younger people.
They must respect the party procedures and should be patient and wait for their time.”
Mhlanga said some members of the youth league executive were “sell-outs” and failed to adequately campaign for President Emmerson Mnangagwa, resulting in the Zanu PF leader scrapping through with a very thin margin.
“We can also witness that there are still remnants of the G40 cabal left in the party.
We could not get votes from the youth because some of the executive members were not playing their role, which led to our President getting a lower victory percentage,” Mhlanga said
“The youth department was at a standstill during the presidential campaigns while they channelled all their energies to campaigning in their constituencies.”
