How Zanu-PF won Byo South Nat Assembly seat
CDE RAJ MODI’S victory in Bulawayo South made him the first Zanu-PF candidate in 18 years to win a major seat in Bulawayo in an election year. After a long, gruelling and out-of-the-box campaign, Cde Modi won the popular vote by a sizeable margin.
The award-winning businessman won by using the party’s manifesto, President Mnangagwa’s pragmatic economy first strategy and on his own terms, strategically and symbolically.
He rolled out a campaign that was long on action and short on promises.
The campaign made use of the existing party cells in the constituency. However, it was discovered early that the cells were not a strength but a weakness. The number of party members were either deliberately inflated or they were not updated periodically to reflect the true picture on the ground. The cells, which were much discussed among the campaign team, which was made up of campaign manager Cde Hope Sendamai, advisors Cde Ray Mthomba and Cde Rejoice Mafukidze, Cde Denzel Kuzovemhunu and Cde Benjamin Manimanzi, turned out to be a footnote and were used mostly to complement a campaign strategy rarely used in Bulawayo.
The election campaign team drew its strength from mixing focus group discussions with door-to-door campaigns. Rallies were deliberately undersold. The meetings with the communities of Bulawayo South had a flexible agenda to cater for the diverse needs of the constituency. The campaign message was guided by the aspirations and dreams of the groups and individuals that we met.
From these discussions the common challenges that emerged were of employment, healthcare and education. Since the candidate is an industrialist humanitarian with a proven record of uplifting the lives of the people of Bulawayo it was effortless to guarantee the electorate of employment opportunities in the event that they voted for him.
The unemployed, especially the youth, in Bulawayo South voted for Zanu-PF because of Cde Modi’s assurance that they will be employed in his new projects which are expected to create over a thousand jobs. The $7 million solar equipment manufacturing factory in Belmont will create 200 jobs, the smartphone and laptop assembling plant will employ about 500 and the Cowdray Park mall will recruit over 300.
Belmont industries falls under Bulawayo South, so Cde Modi who already runs a whisky manufacturing plant, a bottled water company, a factory that prints books and Pintail Trading, a company that trades as Wholesale Centre Liquor Hub, and a distributor of Pepsi products and local beverages, promised the unemployed that he would not rest until he revives the industries that would create employment for the people of Bulawayo. The fact that his companies did not shut down or relocate to Harare at the height of the economic crisis in 2008, made him believable.
Cde Modi, who has a degree in economics, also got votes from vendors and small business owners in Bulawayo South after he empowered them. He donated 5 hectares of land and cooler boxes to vendors and is in the process of setting up a $100 000 revolving fund to finance small businesses in the constituency.
“I don’t believe that employing people is enough, I believe in making employers and I have over the years helped a lot of people to be entrepreneurs. This revolving fund will boost small businesses and help create new ones in Bulawayo South. The money will be paid back without interest,” he said.
In an effort to also appeal to the employed worker, who leaves home early in the morning and returns at sunset, Cde Modi came up with a unique campaign strategy - serving tea and coffee to people who were hiking to work from 4:30am to 7am on working days. The idea was to have brief interactions with the potential voters. The breakfast campaign was supposed to be for one day, but it proved popular with the electorate resulting in it being adapted as a daily campaign activity. The residents of Sizinda and Tshabalala saw the funny side of the campaign and nicknamed Cde Modi “Coffee Man”.
His unique selling proposition was to find common ground to keep the people together and present a positive message that his campaign was not about elections but about growing the party support beyond its base. He appears to be one of the few looking beyond the July 30 vote to the next election.
On healthcare, the candidate, who has a history of holding health expos in Matabeleland South and Matabeleland North, bankrolled two health expos that offered consultation services and medication to the sick. Four doctors and four nurses were hired to give medical attention to over a thousand people, mostly the elderly, who have no money to meet healthcare expenses.
While a number of the people in the constituency questioned Cde Modi’s sincerity and dismissed him as a charlatan in sheep’s clothing, a good number were won over when he started refurbishments of the Bulawayo City Council-owned Sidojiwe Hostels at a cost of over $40 000. The hostels are in a dilapidated state as most of the basic amenities are broken down, leaving the 500 occupants living under squalid conditions.
The refurbishment work, which is still underway, covers installation of new flush toilets, showers, renovation of laundry rooms and replacement of broken window panes and repairing of the lighting system at the three blocks. Residents at Sidojiwe use the bucket system in their toilets while over 1 000 window panes are broken and need replacement.
During the campaign period, Cde Modi also began the construction of toilets for Greenfield Infant School. The construction is estimated to cost $20 000 when completed.
“My approach to this entire campaign was not to say and do anything that I wouldn’t be proud to stand behind in 2023 in front of voters who are not going to vote Zanu-PF. I care about everyone in Bulawayo South regardless of the party they support or their criticism of my decision to stand,” he said.
Cde Modi also used the mainstream media and social media to campaign. He advertised in the Chronicle and Sunday News and opened a Twitter account and a Facebook page to appeal to the youths who were mostly active on social media.
“Social media is effective in the urban areas so it could have been suicidal to campaign without social media. I used it to campaign not only for me, but all Zanu-PF candidates especially President Mnangagwa. I think I won over of my followers,” said Cde Modi.
The Bulawayo Province Sports and Recreation Commission CEO also held a well attended sports gala at Sizinda Grounds. Sixteen football teams and 18 netball teams competed for sports kits worth thousands of dollars. A team of Bulawayo’s former football stars such as Agent Sawu, Ronald Sibanda and Gift Lunga Junior took on a media select in the curtain-raiser.
On the last day of the campaign period at the shutdown rally at Sizinda Grounds, Cde Modi managed to capture the votes of undecided people in Tshabalala and Sizinda when he donated an ambulance that cost $70 000.
During the campaign trail the residents of the two high-density suburbs had bemoaned the cost of ambulance services. The donated ambulance, which is already operation, offers affordable services. The presence of the guest of honour, the Minister of Health and Child Care Dr David Parirenyatwa, made the people realise that Zanu-PF cares for the people.
Cde Modi said: “I think the ambulance made the people of Bulawayo South realise that I don’t promise but I do. They told me that healthcare was expensive as most are not employed and what did I do? I held a heath expo at Tshabalala Clinic where four doctors and nurses treated close to 500 people. On the last day of the campaign, I surprised them with an ambulance as they had revealed that they used private cars to ferry the ill to hospital because ambulance services were not affordable.”
This consensual approach is not contrived — “it’s authentic, it’s who I am,” said the philanthropist who never hesitates to help the needy.
Cde Modi’s geniality explains why the people of Bulawayo South voted for him. He ran a campaign focused on grievances and development issues that bind the constituency together and glossed over those that divide them.
If he fulfils all that he has pledged, Bulawayo South will never be an MDC seat ever again.