Intriguing contest for Gutu West seat
THE race for the Gutu West National Assembly seat in this year’s harmonised elections is one of the most intriguing battles out of the 26 parliamentary seats in Masvingo province.
All four candidates vying for the seat are new brooms.
Prominent Gutu businessman Cde John Paradza of Zanu-PF leads the cast of four aspirants that are eyeing the seat currently held by Cde Tongai Muzenda, son to the late veteran nationalist and Vice President Dr Simon Muzenda.
Besides Cde Paradza (27), former Roman Catholic seminarian Mr Tauya Chinama (People’s Rainbow Coalition), Harare-based mechanic Mr Stanley Manguma (MDC Alliance) and the little-known Mr Knowledge Mupini also of MDC Alliance have thrown their hats into ring.
While not much is known about Mr Mupini, who is believed to be a ZimPF nominee for the Gutu West parliamentary seat, it is widely believed the real contest for the constituency will be between Cde Paradza and Messers Chinama and Manguma.
The fight for Gutu West is intriguing in the sense that two of the contenders (Cde Paradza) and Chinama are both young turks aged 27 and 26 respectively. Mr Manguma is 42 while Mr Mupini’s age could not be established as efforts to track him proved futile.
Cde Paradza, roundly touted as a shoo-in to succeed Cde Muzenda as the next Gutu West legislator, prides himself as a child of the revolution who was nurtured in the Zanu-PF revolutionary pot by his late father Cde Chamunorwa Chasvuta, who was a famed war collaborator in Serima communal lands.
The 26-year-old entrepreneur, whose interests straddle the transport sector, said the fact that he was born and bred in Serima, the heartland of Gutu West constituency, made him a front-runner in the poll.
He said his meteoric rise from humble beginnings at Mataizha Primary and Chikwerenge Secondary, where he went to school made him a firm favourite to win come July 30.
Cde Paradza said new opportunities brought by the new dispensation led by President Mnangagwa drove him to try his luck and seek office to represent people of Gutu West.
He says his main goal is to develop infrastructure such as schools, clinics and roads once elected into office, a development he says is a foregone conclusion.
Armed with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Antonianum in Rome, Italy and a diploma in Religious Studies from ST Bonaventure University in Lusaka, Zambia, Mr Chinama says his eyes were firmly set on victory in Gutu West.
Mr Chinama quit his role as a seminarian in the Catholic Church to try and fit into political robes.
His vision for Gutu West, if elected into office, is to embark on ward-based developmental projects.
“After being elected Gutu West MP on July 30, we will have a wardby-ward initiative, taking notes of the people and developmental challenges of each ward in the constituency. We will not adopt a one size fits all approach, every ward has its own challenges,’’ said Mr Chinama.
Harare-based mechanic Mr Manguma, who is having a second dance for parliamentary office in Gut West after a failed bid in 2008, said his main goal is to develop agriculture in the constituency.
Mr Manguma said Gutu West has vast potential in agriculture owing to abundant arable land in the constituency which was opened up thanks to the land reform programme.
He also says if elected into office, his major task would be to develop infrastructure in resettlement areas where people still struggle to access services such as clinics and schools.