Trouble may be brewing in the Democratic Union of Zimbabwe (DUZ) party after its Youth National Chairperson, Elvis Dzvene, resigned claiming the movement has lost direction and accused the leadership of dictatorial tendencies.
Dzvene, who joined the DUZ led by Robert Chapman last year, said he now regrets the decision and was unable to continue in the party or “watch helplessly.”
“Since June 2002, I have seen what DUZ has done for the people of Zimbabwe, the party leadership failed to be held accountable by its provincial executives and ordinary members,” he said, in a letter addressed to Chapman, organising secretary, Mohock Mushongayi and DUZ Director of Communications, Itayi Muchemwa Tawona.
Dzvene claimed DUZ has not involved provincial youth leaders in decision making but “only sends them to the ground for mobilisation.”
According to the former youth leader, DUZ has not held meetings between province leaders and the national leadership since its formation, referring to this as “briefcase politics.”
“There is victimisation of provincial coordinators by the top echelons hence decisions made are biased. There is no proper national executive structure, as everything is kept secret by the president including all other position holders are unknown, which are people behind the scenes,” he said.
Dzvene claimed the party was more interested in joining and leading the Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) than winning elections.
“There are too many unnecessary lies and lack of election preparedness. There is no party office or a single party vehicle at national level,” he said.
“The party seems to be a threat to democracy given that the top echelon of the party can impose decisions unopposed. The party is doing what they criticise the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) for.”
Dzvene accused the party of lacking principles, claiming that the leadership had broken every commitment.
This included failing to keep a promise made last December to those living with albinism that DUZ would provide them with lotions within a week.
“Since December nothing has been received yet these people are involved in ground mobilisation. The party has successfully failed to convince Zimbabwe that it is really into politics of change. The party seems to be good at overpromising the electorate yet delivering nothing, if not worse. Is this not what the party is accusing Zanu PF for?” Dzvene questioned.
“Instead of building a strong institution the party is making strong individuals like other failed opposition parties. DUZ started well with vibrancy but we have quickly lost direction because the party now does exactly what it opposes.”
The former youth leader said Zimbabweans need a serious political alternative that was not after fundraising for personal pocketing.
“I made a promise to serve my country and I have regretfully broken that promise therefore for the reasons stated above, I am hereby resigning from DUZ. I wish everyone I worked with from grassroots to national, the best in the future and hope that they can help change this country for the better,” Dzvene said.
When reached for comment, DUZ Director of Communications Tawona, confirmed receipt of Dzvene’s resignation letter but dismissed his reasons as mere allegations.
“Joining a political party is voluntary but when someone is resigning, he will cite reasons which are just allegations. The party will come up with a response to his letter but actually at the present moment we are busy touring provinces preparing for the elections,” Tawona said in an interview with CITE.
Tawona said there is no basis to the allegations Dzvene was raising.
“Our party preparations are going well. On Sunday, our president was in Mashonaland West in Chinhoyi. He’s preparing for the election and everything is going well,” he said.
