Cross border traders to mobilise votes for ED

THE Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders Association yesterday launched a programme to mobilise its more than two million members to vote for President Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF in the July 30 harmonised elections.

Speaking at a Press conference after meeting provincial heads of the association to map out the strategy in Harare yesterday, the association’s president Cde Killer Zivhu said President Mnangagwa had shown an inclination towards making traders’ lives easier through various programmes.

The programme would be launched in all the provinces to ensure members of the Cross Border Traders Association were updated on the expectations.

Cde Zivhu said their voter mobilisation programme had ensured that at least 80 percent of the cross border traders were registered voters.

“Since the formation of the Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders Association in 1995, we have been facing numerous challenges which remained unattended to,” said Cde Zivhu.

“We believe that President ED Mnangagwa has what it takes to change our situation. He has already shown that he is capable in the last few months since he took over in November.

“We want to give President Mnangagwa a chance as cross border traders by voting for him because we believe in his economic policies which are set to turn things around for the better, especially for us in this business.”

Cde Zivhu said they had agreed that all cross border traders should be home as from July 25 to ensure they were ready on election day.

Cde Zivhu, who is the Zanu-PF candidate for Chivi South, said they would soon change the name of the association to Small and Medium Import and Exporters Association of Zimbabwe.

He said the changes would coincide with a refocus of the association to help members formalise their operations.

“The President has declared that Zimbabwe is open for business, and what this means is that our members can have a major role to play in this new economic focus if we become more organised,” said Cde Zivhu.

“We want to help our members to be empowered so that they are able to export goods sourced from the local market, while importing those which are needed at home.”

Cde Zivhu said the association would soon start a project to import goods for cross border traders to minimise travelling, which comes with many difficulties.

He said they wanted Government to consider cross border traders in programmes such as Command Housing and Command Agriculture.

Cde Zivhu said the Zimbabwe Cross Border Traders Association had achieved a lot for the traders since inception.