Zanu-PF hits campaign trail in Mwenezi East
THE ruling Zanu-PF party’s campaign machinery is now in full swing ahead of next month’s Mwenezi East parliamentary by-election, with senior party officials in the province having already hit the ground campaigning to ensure the revolutionary party retains the seat.
Businessman Cde Joosbi Omar will represent Zanu-PF and he will square off with former Masvingo Provincial Affairs Minister Mr Kudakwashe Bhasikiti of ZimPF.
Also eyeing the vacant seat in the April 8 by-election is Mr Welcome Masuku of the National Constitutional Assembly and Mr Turner Mhango of Free Zimbabwe Congress party.
The by-election will be held to fi ll a vacancy created by the death of Zanu-PF National Assembly member for the constituency Cde Joshua Moyo last December.
Cde Omar yesterday said the ruling party campaign juggernaut had already started rolling in Mwenezi, with senior party officials in Masvingo having set up camp in the constituency.
He said everything was pointing to a monumental victory for Zanu-PF.
“Provincial executive members are already on the ground spearheading our campaign so that we retain the Mwenezi East seat and I am happy with the response from the people,’’ he said.
“We have so far had a series of campaign rallies across all wards in the constituency, where our provincial executive and Central Committee members from Masvingo Province have been at the forefront.’’
Cde Omar said Zanu-PF was also spearheading efforts to eradicate typhoid across the entire Mwenezi District by leading clean-up campaigns that target overpopulated service centres such as Neshuro Growth Point and Rutenga.
“There was a typhoid outbreak in Mwenezi recently and Zanu-PF has been carrying out clean-up campaigns that have seen delivery of rubbish disposal bins at areas such as Rutenga and Neshuro,’’ Cde Omar said.
The ruling party was also spearheading efforts to rehabilitate roads battered by heavy rains, which made some parts of Mwenezi inaccessible after bridges were swept away.
Senior Zanu-PF Masvingo Politburo member Cde Josaya Hungwe said the ruling party was ready to battle with anyone in the Mwenezi East by-election.
“President Mugabe has already given us a task to make sure Masvingo remains a ‘one-party state’, with all the 26 National Assembly seats under the control of Zanu-PF. We are working hard to make sure we retain our 100 percent control of all the seats,’’ he said.
“We hear that one of the candidates who will square up with Cde Omar is (Mr) Bhasikiti, whom we sacked from our party. Our message to him is, its game on. Let him come forward and learn electoral lessons from the tried-and-tested Zanu-PF, which is a people’s party,’’ added Cde Hungwe.
He said Zanu-PF would intensify its campaign in the constituency as the by-election date draws closer.
Zanu-PF has bagged all the parliamentary by-elections held in the post-2013 harmonised elections period save for Norton, where the revolutionary party lost to independent candidate Mr Temba Mliswa amid reports the ruling party candidate for the election had been imposed.
In Masvingo Province, the ruling party pummelled the troubled ZimPF, with its candidate Cde Beauty Chabaya garnering more than 13 000 votes against her nearest challenger, ZimPF’s Mr Kudakwashe Gopo, who managed a paltry 2 453 votes in the January 21 Bikita West by-election.