President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe greets members of the Politburo of the ruling ZANU-PF Party on Friday, April 4, 2008.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
By Sydney Kawadza
Zimbabwe Sunday Mail
Former Zanu-PF deputy spokesperson Professor Jonathan Moyo has bounced back into the Politburo five years after being suspended from the party for standing as an independent candidate in the 2005 general election.
President Mugabe announced Cde Moyo’s return to the Politburo yesterday — along with Cde George Rutanhire’s elevation to the body — during the 11th National People’s Conference.
President Mugabe, who is the party’s First Secretary — welcomed Cde Moyo’s return, saying the Tsholotsho North Member of the House of Assembly had been working hard for the party. “Cde Moyo comes back. I do not want to say he was a prodigal son, but he comes back anyway . . .
“He has been working hard in the party, we know his talents and we know we will be satisfied by them.”
Cde Moyo’s return was greeted with prolonged applause and ululation and delegates chanted the former Information and Publicity Minister’s name when the announcement was made.
Cde Rutanhire’s elevation was also welcomed with a loud cheer by the more than 4 600 people in attendance. Announcing Cde Rutanhire’s nomination to the Politburo, the Head of State and Government and Commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces said: “Many comrades will know him and know that he was there from the very start of our armed struggle, Chimurenga.”
In an interview afterwards, Cde Moyo said: “I don’t see it as an elevation but rather as a call to duty. I’m grateful to be given the opportunity to serve my party and through it, my country.”
Cde Rutanhire said the announcement had come as a surprise. “But I am happy that the Presidium and the Politburo want me to work with them. I would like to thank the provincial leadership (Mashonaland Central) and members of the Central Committee who have brought me to where I am right now.”
Cde Moyo was re-elected into Zanu-PF’s Central Committee at the 2009 National People’s Congress.
Cde Rutanhire is a veteran nationalist and played an active role in the liberation struggle. Since independence in 1980, he has been a deputy minister and worked for the advancement of the party’s and nation’s interests in his personal capacity. He is presently the chairman of the Fallen Heroes Trust — an organisation dedicated to locating, exhuming and decently reburying the remains of freedom fighters massacred by the racist Smith regime.
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