Zanu PF Politburo members are superior to government ministers: Presidential Affairs boss
Lovemore Matuke
RULING party, Zanu PF Politburo members should be accorded utmost respect since they wield more power and authority than ministers, their deputies and permanent secretaries, a senior bureaucrat has said.
The Politburo is a 49-member body of appointees of the party’s first secretary and is the highest decision-making organ outside congress which acts as the standing committee of the Central Committee. It meets at least once a month.
Minister of Presidential Affairs in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Lovemore Matuke made the pronouncement to correct misconceptions surrounding hierarchy of power within political circles.
This follows complaints of ill treatment and disrespectful conduct towards Zanu PF Politburo, Central Committee members as well as war veterans by government deployees, including ministers.
“Regrettably, we have been receiving several complaints from senior party leadership, particularly Politburo members and veterans of the liberation struggle, who would have been disrespected by government officials,” Matuke told a gathering in Chinhoyi during his familiarisation tour last Thursday.
“Let me put it on record that Politburo members are superior to government ministers, and for that reason, they should be accorded the respect they deserve.”
Matuke also emphasised that Zanu PF is supreme to government.
“In other words, the government is a product of the party and is given work to do by the party.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Second Republic, Matuke added, is unapologetic about spearheading infrastructural development and his ministry was created with a mandate to track implementation of presidential policy declarations, pronouncements, directives, election manifesto pledges and promises. It also monitors how funds from the intergovernmental fiscal transfer system (IGFT) are utilised.
He said the new ministry has its work cut out to guarantee attainment of Vision 2030.
“We have to work round the clock if we are to achieve Vision 2030 two years ahead of schedule in 2028 as proclaimed by our visionary leader, His Excellency, the President Dr Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa,” said Matuke.
“I am glad that as we started the year 2024, our ministry received its approved mandate, whose bulk of it entails working with Provincial Ministers of State and Devolution.
“The ministry provides continuous and timely advice to the Presidency concerning the state of affairs in all provinces. It is also mandated to monitor provincial economic development. This way, we ensure that party election manifestos as well as conference and congress resolutions are implemented.”
Matuke said local authorities drive provincial development hence the need for them to stick to the recently-launched IGFT Administrative Manual to guide on how to use devolution funds transparently and efficiently.
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