Jacob Mafume, a councillor with the opposition Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC) party and the current Mayor of Harare, has defended the decision of mayors and council chairpersons to attend a two-day training seminar organised by the ruling ZANU PF party’s Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology.
The Ministry of Local Government and Public Works summoned all mayors and council chairpersons to attend the indoctrination sessions held at the Rainbow Towers Hotel on August 21 and 22.
While Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart and his deputy Edwin Ndlovu opted not to attend, Mafume was among those who participated in the training.
Although the training was conducted by Munyaradzi Machacha, the principal of the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology and the ZANU PF National Political Commissar, Mafume has sought to justify the attendance of the opposition-led local authorities. Said Mafume:
We cannot shy away from attending some of these workshops when we are invited by our parent Ministry. No one has been asked to renounce their political party, but people have gone to understand the genesis and philosophy that some of us are operating in. It is something we have no qualms about attending, and we are part and parcel of that process.
Speaking in an interview with The Sunday Mail in 2022, Machacha made it clear that the Chitepo School of Ideology is a party school for ZANU PF. He said:
Chitepo School of Ideology is a party school for ZANU PF. Its mission is to train and conscientise the leadership of the party, including the cadres, that the party deploys into Government, parastatals and other key national institutions. We aim to raise the political and ideological consciousness of the entire citizens of Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the Mayors, Council Chairpersons, and Town Clerks who participated in the two-day training programme were expected to receive certificates for completing the Chitepo School of Ideology course this Friday.
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