KNIVES are out for Zanu PF Youth League deputy secretary, John Paradza, for allegedly trying to buy support among party structures to push for plans to amend the Constitution so that President Emmerson Mnangagwa extends his term of office.
NewsDay has also gathered that Paradza, a Mnangagwa loyalist, has been criss-crossing the country to rally members to move a motion during this week’s Zanu PF conference to support the constitutional amendment.
The Midlands and Masvingo provinces have been vocal in support of the constitutional amendment which has stoked intense fighting in the ruling party.
So intense has been the infighting in the party that Midlands Provincial Affairs minister Owen Ncube has been chanting slogans insulting critics of Mnangagwa’s term extensionamong them Munyaradzi Shoko, a member of the Children of the War Veterans Association of Zimbabwe.
“2030 . . . down with Munyaradzi Shoko’s mother,” Ncube sloganeered during a party event on Saturday in Midlands.
In response, Shoko said: “My crime is defending the Zimbabwean constitution which they illegally want to subvert! They are using all possible tactics! Now I am living in the bush. Politics must be a contestation of ideas with the motive to build our nation. This went too personal, minister Ncube.”
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NewsDay last week reported that Masvingo and Midlands were planning protests against Shoko and other critics of the 2030 agenda.
Sources said Paradza was initially allegedly targeting provincial chairpersons and later turned his focus to unemployed Zanu PF youths across the country.
When contacted for comment, Paradza denied the charges.
“We had a youth empowerment meeting in Dadaya organised by the parent ministry, and the agenda was not about the 2030 agenda as suggested in other quarters,” Paradza said.
Youth Empowerment minister Tinoda Machakaire, however, urged party youths to refrain from being dragged into divisive party politics.
“Our message to the youth has always been about unity, the need to respect the leadership, and to participate in programs that move the party forward,” he told NewsDay yesterday.
“As we have said before, we encourage party youth to champion peace as envisaged by the President and now be swayed into delving into divisive politics.”
A shadowy group calling itself the General Chiwenga Voluntary Supporters Association on Saturday rallied Zimbabweans to oppose the 2030 agenda.
Mnangagwa (82) is currently serving his second and last term in office, having been first elected in 2018.
The Zimbabwean constitution only allows a President to serve a maximum of two terms.
“We call upon all true patriots youth, veterans, and women across Matabeleland and Zimbabwe at large — to join us in solidarity as we defend the future of this nation,” the shadowy association said.
“To John Paradza and those backing him, we say this: You will not silence the voice of the people. You will not stand in the way of justice. Zimbabwe deserves a leader with the strength, discipline and courage to steer this nation towards prosperity.”