ZANU PF deputy secretary for youth affairs, John Paradza, has warned ruling party youths against name-dropping but to respect the party’s first secretary President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Name-dropping is when an individual claims to be associated with a famous or powerful person in order to appear more important and special.
Addressing the ZANU PF Mashonaland West provincial inter-district meeting in Chinhoyi on Saturday, Paradza said:
Stop name-dropping and dragging President Mnangagwa into your selfish issues.
None among you has the power to visit the President to present your challenges without my knowledge as your leader.
Paradza reminded ZANU PF youths at the meeting that Mnangagwa is the party’s sole presidential candidate for next year’s harmonised elections. He said:
We have one centre of power in ZANU PF and that is the President, and he deserves to be respected.
Paradza revealed that some youths were destabilising the ruling party by threatening to suspend party officials claiming they had been sent by Mnangagwa. He added:
Some of us are being bought to de-campaign and destabilise sitting parliamentarians and this should be stopped as it has a negative impact on the 2023 result.
… Preach the good that President Mnangagwa is doing for the nation that include infrastructure development, devolution, the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme and sound economic reforms.
These should help mobilise voters for the party for the 2023 harmonised elections.