Zanu-PF officially launches election campaign

ZANU-PF has officially set in motion its campaign programme in Bulawayo ahead of this year’s harmonised elections, the party’s provincial chairman Professor Callistus Ndlovu said yesterday.

The latest development follows the completion of an assessment tour of all districts by the provincial leadership.

Prof Ndlovu told The Chronicle that the party’s leadership at district level has started mobilising people. “We have begun our campaign programme and it is now ongoing following the completion of our tour of five areas in the province on Friday. The five areas combine all our districts,” he said.

Prof Ndlovu said the purpose of the tour was to educate leaders at district level on strategies to employ in mobilising people during campaigns.

“The aim of the tour of districts was to show the leadership at district level that the line has been drawn broadly as far as mobilising people ahead of the elections is concerned,” he said.

Prof Ndlovu said as Zanu-PF in Bulawayo they were confident of winning the elections.

“Naturally as Zanu-PF we are quite optimistic that we will win the elections,” he said.

Prof Ndlovu urged party members to desist from violence as they prepare for elections.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said Zimbabweans should brace for harmonised elections in the coming five months, which should be transparent, free and fair.

He said free and fair polls were critical in repositioning Zimbabwe as a democratic State within the international system.

President Mnangagwa said the forthcoming polls will be observed by Sadc, African Union, European Union, United Nations and all states that subscribe to democratic values. — @mashnets A BULAWAYO man has been arrested for allegedly killing a man in Emthunzini suburb and throwing the body into a sewage pond after suspecting that he was having an affair with his wife.

Mbonisi Ncube (36) from Emthunzini suburb, Umguza District near Pumula South allegedly strangled Nkululeko Sibanda on January 19 after suspecting that he was having an affair with his wife.

Mbonisi allegedly dumped Sibanda’s body in a sewage pond.

The body was discovered nine days later after Sibanda was reported missing.

The murder suspect, his alleged victim and their friends are said to have earlier drank beer together at Makoni Business Centre in Pumula South.

The accused person appeared before Western Commonage magistrate Mr Lungile Ncube charged with the murder of Sibanda who is survived by a wife and a two-year-old child.

He was not asked to plead and Mr Ncube remanded him in custody to February 16.

Mr Ncube advised him to apply for bail at the High Court.

Prosecuting, Mr Petros Shoko said on January 19 at around 9PM Sibanda was drinking beer at Makoni Business Centre in the company of his friends and Mbonisi. “After drinking beer Sibanda left the accused at the business centre with the intention of going home,” said Mr Shoko

“Mbonisi who was suspecting that Sibanda was having an affair with his wife followed him and caught up with him at the sewage ponds. Mbonisi strangled Sibanda to death then threw the body in the sewage ponds.”

The deceased’s father Mr Pine Sibanda told The Chronicle when the body was discovered that family members last saw his son on January 19 leaving home with his friends, headed to a shebeen in Emthunzini suburb to drink beer.

He said he was later called by the police to identify his son’s body. “It is very painful to think that I went searching for him around that area but we didn’t think of the sewage ponds so we returned not knowing he had been thrown there,” said Mr Sibanda.

“His body was discovered by a child who was playing around the area. The child told his parents who then reported to the police. I only got a call from the police asking me to come and identify the body because I had made a report that Nkululeko was missing.”

Mr Sibanda said it was difficult to identify the deceased as his face was swollen and he had bruises.

“I had to identify him with the clothes he had been wearing the day we last saw him,” he said. — @SlyCee10