OUTSPOKEN war veteran, Max Mkandla says all government departmental heads in their respective provinces should be sent to the Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology for Zanu PF indoctrination following their failure to employ locals.
“Chief executive officers are the ones responsible for their areas, but are not implementing devolution dictates in their jurisdictions,” Mkandla said.
“They are not employing locals. They must be sent to the school of ideology to indoctrinate them with the devolution agenda. It is a good school. I was there myself. People must go through it so that they know where the country came from.”
Devolution is provided for under Chapter 12 of the 2013 Constitution, with section 268 of that charter providing for the establishment of provincial councillors in the country’s provinces.
To date, there is no enabling Act to operationalise devolution.
This is despite government approving principles of the Provincial Councils and Administration (Amendment) Bill.
Analyst Effie Ncube said Mkandla had betrayed the overzealousness of Zanu PF activists.
“This is a dangerous conflation. The interference of the school of ideology in the running of the State is unconstitutional and completely unlawful. Zanu PF is not Zimbabwe, nor is Zimbabwe Zanu PF. Understanding this distinction is crucial for the proper running of the State,’’ Ncube said.
The Herbert Chitepo School of Ideology, also referred to as Chitepo Ideological College, a Zanu PF-affiliated institution, was mooted after the country gained independence from British colonial rule in 1980.
The push to operationalise the college gathered momentum in 2016 to allegedly instil a sense of patriotism and understanding of Zanu PF’s ideology by civil servants and others, who did not participate in the liberation struggle.
In 2016, a resolution was passed by Zanu PF that no candidate would represent the party in national elections without having attended the school of ideology.
