President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling Zanu PF party has resolved to resume the feared national youth service, establish its own radio and television stations and lead a process to thank ancestral spirits for liberating the nation from white settler rule.
In a communique released on Sunday, a day after holding its 17th Annual National People’s Conference in Matabeleland South province, Zanu PF said the youth service should be revived in 2019.
“National Youth Service program must be resumed in the first quarter of 2019,” read part of the statement, which also indicated that the party wants to have media entities.
“The Party must establish its own radio and television service to publish its own programs.”
The ruling party’s business empire appears to have collapsed amid reports that Zanu PF is in the process of reviving some of its companies, which once received a cash injection from Manharlal Chiunilal and Jayant Chiunilal Joshi. The funds were allegedly abused by some people in the ruling party.
Zanu PF’s secretary for administration, Obert Mpofu, told the Daily News that plans are underway to restructure some of the companies that were under M&S Syndicate (Pvt) Ltd which had substantial stakes in Treger Holdings, Mike Appeal, Catercraft, Fribrolite and Zidlee.
Mpofu was quoted as saying, “We will be addressing issues affecting the operation of our companies. They are not dead, they are there but you know they were also affected by the economic environment that was prevailing before.”
The ruling party had stakes in Southern African Re-Insurance Company, Zidco Holdings and First Bank, Nationa Blankets, Woolworths, Jongwe Printing and Publishing Company and Jongwe and Nyadzonya Farms.
Apart from establishing media entities and revising collapsed companies, the ruling party wants to also thank ancestral spirits for the country’s independence from British rule.
In the communique issues Sunday, Zanu PF said it wants to “lead the process to thank ancestral spirits for Independence - repatriation of body parts belonging to first and second Chimurenga heroes and heroines such as Chief Chingaira.
It is seeking the “establishment of a liberation war museum and promotion of productions to document liberation heritage (sic).”
Over 5,000 people attended the party’s annual people’s conference in Esigodini with critics saying Zanu PF won’t be able to implement most of its resolutions due to the current harsh economic situation in the country.