The Zimbabwe Community Party (ZCP), formed two years, is set to hold its maiden congress this month in Bulawayo to elect central committee members, a senior party official has said.
Bongani Mkwananzi, ZCP spokesperson, told CITE preparations for the special indaba were on course.
“The venue is in Bulawayo,” said Mkwananzi.
“We are still finalising the police process but our venue is paid for. Once we have done clearance, we will make our venue public.”
The four-day long indaba to be held from December 19 to 22, 2019 will also discuss and adopt the party programme.
“Our congress comes at a time our nation is going through an economic and political crisis,” said Mkwananzi.
“We are experiencing the brutality of the state on union leaders on daily basis, the poor 2019 Grade 7 Examination results, the silent genocide in our malfunctioning hospitals and the massive corruption in state entities, particularly at the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.”
While he could not be drawn on their budget, he said they were fundraising for the congress where at least 50 party members and invited guests are expected to be in attendance.
“We expect 50 ZCP delegates and 20 invited guests drawn from civil society and unions,” explained Mkwananzi.
“Delegates will come from across Zimbabwe and from South Africa and internationally. It is our first elective congress and we will elect the central committee as per our constitution.”
The congress will run under the theme: “Completing the liberation of Zimbabwe.”
Mkwananzi elaborated: “While we won political independence in 1980 we did not transfer the means of production to society as a whole. We will deal with this question in details at congress.”
Asked how as the leadership they were coordinating party activities from South Africa, Mkwananzi said the party was taking advantage of technology and social media.
“We have encouraged our members to use technology to participate in our activity coordination,” he said.
“We do have comrades in the national steering committee travelling to member locations attending gatherings and events. Comrades from South Africa also travel to attend activities.
The Ngqabutho Nicholas Mabhena-led ZCP, advocating for a transitional government, is however yet to contest in elections.
“In November 2017, we stated that the best path for Zimbabwe was a transitional government involving all stakeholders and foresaw the after-polls dispute that would arise,” he said.
“We called for a national economic dialogue and revival of production and a focus on economic recovery. Sadly our calls were not heeded and we are even worse off now!”
