The presence of civil servants at the ZANU PF Congress has raised eyebrows with some observers saying it is a violation of the national Constitution of 2013.
The 7th ZANU PF National People’s Congress commenced on Wednesday, 26 October with a meeting of the Politburo followed by a Central Committee meeting on Thursday before the official opening on Friday. It is scheduled to end on Saturday 29 October 2022.
Roselyn Hanzi, a lawyer employed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in Harare, expressed concern over the presence of civil servants at the event. In a social media post seen by Pindula News, Hanzi said:
This probably explains why we were called Rogue NGOs. Africa can only move forward when we completely eradicate Conflation of Political Party & Government. Civil servants must separate their political party interests from their national duties. So what does the 2013 Constitution say about conduct of Civil Servants? Sec 200(3)(a-b) says they must not further interests of any political party & act in a non-partisan manner.
Civil servants who were present at the event include Nick Mangwana, the Permanent Secretary of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.
Other notable faces at the ruling party festival yesterday included Civil Service Commission chairperson Vincent Hungwe, Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet Misheck Sibanda, directors and parastatal heads, among others.
Mangwana yesterday defended their presence. He said, “They have been invited to the congress of a political party to help us understand their policy thrusts which we have to implement in government,” according to NewsDay.