ACTING Secretary,
Members of the Central Committee, Party Officials, Comrades.
I warmly welcome you to this session of our Central Committee which convenes on the eve of our Extraordinary Congress, which is being held under the theme; “Consolidating the Gains of Zim-Asset through Unity, Peace and Development”. I trust you are all prepared for the long day ahead as we transact the business of our Congress which is expected to provide a good environment for us to make far-reaching decisions that will take our Party and our country forward.
In welcoming you, I recognise that this Central Committee is unique as much as it is historic in that I stand before you, addressing this esteemed gathering as the President and First Secretary of the Party, subject to the ratification of the resolution you made on the 19th November 2017, which handed me the onerous task of leading our revolutionary Party. Furthermore, the Extraordinary Session of Congress itself is being held specifically to ratify the resolution of that Extraordinary Session of the Central Committee held on 19 November 2017. Indeed that historic Central Committee meeting confirmed your status as the highest decision-making body of our Party between Congresses, if ever there was any doubt.
I applaud you for your boldness and courage as you did nor shirk your responsibilities or flinch from taking decisions that were needful, against the adverse situation that had developed, threatening our Party. You rose to the occasion showing and demonstrating that organs of the Party, more so those at the apex, such as this one, must always show unswerving leadership for the survival of our Party.
In addition, that determining Central Committee meeting had a direct meaning to me specifically as the decisions and resolutions made therein ended my brief exile, in the process clearing the way for my return into the country and into the Party from which I had been illegally, summarily dismissed. I am truly grateful to you who made that happen and took a further step as you resolved to elevate me to be the President and First Secretary of the Party; I am deeply humbled by that show of confidence which I hope to justify by giving my utmost best.
I further recall most heartily how much you placed me uppermost in your thoughts when I was taken ill in August this year. That I am alive and fully recovered attests to how your prayers were heard and to the faithfulness of our Almighty God. Indeed the hardest crises and setbacks turn out much lighter and more bearable with overwhelming support from comrades such as yourselves, who become true keepers of our destiny.
Comrade Members of the Central Committee,
In moving forward, let us recognise and acknowledge the achievements that our Party has made to date as led by my predecessor, the Former President and First Secretary, Cde R. G. Mugabe. In so doing, however, let us not lose sight of the need to move purposefully forward, to repair the Party and put it on a vibrant keel. The Central Committee as the highest decision-making body between Congresses must assume full responsibility of this mammoth task of re-engineering our Party. This responsibility must never be abdicated or usurped for expediency. Not so much to feel pompous and indispensable, but to realise and wake up to the heavy responsibilities which it should discharge.
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