Former Zanu PF Youth League leader Kudzanai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe will have to wait longer after the ruling party turned down their applications to be readmitted as ordinary card-carrying members. The pair was expelled from the party last year after the fall of former President Robert Mugabe following the November military intervention. During Mugabe’s tenure, Chipanga had turned bootlicking into an art, taking every opportunity to praise him in an effort to ingratiate himself with the (then) First Family. After the party’s Central Committee meeting, Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana reported that the National Disciplinary Committee had declined to readmit former Youth League leaders Kudzai Chipanga and Innocent Hamandishe. After Mnangagwa came into power, Chipanga wrote to him apologising and seeking to be readmitted. Part of his letter reads,
I am very humbled to write to you asking for forgiveness and do hereby beg for readmission into the party. I know very well that I cannot alter what I did, it pains me that I have caused a mar in my record. I have learnt from my previous mistakes. I am still a young person prone to mistakes and I am still learning the ropes of life. As such, I deeply regret my actions and conduct. I am very sorry to the rank and file of the party for the troubles I caused during my tenure as Secretary for Youth Affairs.
Words alone cannot express my deep regrets for my actions. I humbly request for the party leadership to kindly overlook my mistakes and forgive me. Your Excellency, I beseech you to pardon me and readmit me as an ordinary card carrying member. I know no other party other than Zanu-PF. It pains me to be cast outside the party. After going through this letter, I believe you will find room to forgive me.
However, after the party’s Central Committee meeting, Zanu-PF Secretary for Legal Affairs Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana reported that the National Disciplinary Committee had declined to readmit the former Youth League leaders.