News / National
MDC-T spreads 2018 election campaign to rural areas
13 Apr 2017 at 02:07hrs | Views
The MDC has escalated its 2018 election campaign, with the Morgan Tsvangirai-led party deploying its senior officials to the rural areas to consolidate its support base in the countryside.
The rural areas have been the stronghold of the ruling Zanu-PF, where it has been garnering most of its support as compared to the urban communities.
MDC deputy spokesperson Tabita Khumalo told the Daily News yesterday that the opposition party deployed its MPs, senators and other senior officials to provinces, in line with what Tsvangirai gathered from his recent nationwide tour.
" . . . president (Tsvangirai) held a nationwide tour gathering views from the people and it is that which we are implementing now," she said.
"It is not necessarily about Zanu-PF but that we are carrying out the mandate our president was given by the people to deploy cadres around the country to be more visible ahead of elections. The response so far has been fantastic, the people love it."
Beginning in February, Tsvangirai embarked on a one-and-a-half months of "fruitful" engagements with Zimbabweans, consulting them on various issues, including the mooted grand coalition of opposition forces against Mugabe for the elections.
In a statement after the tour, Tsvangirai said the engagements "made me wiser".
"We sat under trees and discussed many issues about the country we all love. We huddled in round huts, conversed in town halls and sat under trees and tents and communed about the past, the present and the future of our country," Tsvangirai said.
"We spoke about past government-sponsored atrocities against the innocent citizens of our country, the present difficulties we all face and the new governance culture we should sculpt if we are to embrace a new future with renewed confidence and hope.
"We discussed the next election which we all agreed was watershed and how as political parties and networks we all need to coalesce into a huge coalition for change that will set a new paradigm for future generations".
MDC MP for Zengeza East Alexei Musundire, who has been deployed to Mashonaland East, said judging from the response that his team has been getting so far, the belief that rural areas are Zanu-PF strongholds will be demystified come next year.
"It's based more on mythology than reality that Zanu-PF is the only game down there. The people are a lot wiser now and they are ready to prove that next year.
"Zanu-PF now only exists in name there but nobody follows it anymore and if we continue on that trajectory, then victory is a given," Musundire said.
The MDC efforts at breaking the Zanu-PF dominance in these areas is being complemented by pressure groups such as Zimbabwe Yadzoka/Mayibuye iZimbabwe which was launched in August 2016.
The pressure group seeks to educate and mobilise the Zimbabwean rural populace over the need to get rid of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF government.
The MDC controls almost all of the country's urban constituencies.
The rural areas have been the stronghold of the ruling Zanu-PF, where it has been garnering most of its support as compared to the urban communities.
MDC deputy spokesperson Tabita Khumalo told the Daily News yesterday that the opposition party deployed its MPs, senators and other senior officials to provinces, in line with what Tsvangirai gathered from his recent nationwide tour.
" . . . president (Tsvangirai) held a nationwide tour gathering views from the people and it is that which we are implementing now," she said.
"It is not necessarily about Zanu-PF but that we are carrying out the mandate our president was given by the people to deploy cadres around the country to be more visible ahead of elections. The response so far has been fantastic, the people love it."
Beginning in February, Tsvangirai embarked on a one-and-a-half months of "fruitful" engagements with Zimbabweans, consulting them on various issues, including the mooted grand coalition of opposition forces against Mugabe for the elections.
In a statement after the tour, Tsvangirai said the engagements "made me wiser".
"We sat under trees and discussed many issues about the country we all love. We huddled in round huts, conversed in town halls and sat under trees and tents and communed about the past, the present and the future of our country," Tsvangirai said.
"We spoke about past government-sponsored atrocities against the innocent citizens of our country, the present difficulties we all face and the new governance culture we should sculpt if we are to embrace a new future with renewed confidence and hope.
"We discussed the next election which we all agreed was watershed and how as political parties and networks we all need to coalesce into a huge coalition for change that will set a new paradigm for future generations".
MDC MP for Zengeza East Alexei Musundire, who has been deployed to Mashonaland East, said judging from the response that his team has been getting so far, the belief that rural areas are Zanu-PF strongholds will be demystified come next year.
"It's based more on mythology than reality that Zanu-PF is the only game down there. The people are a lot wiser now and they are ready to prove that next year.
"Zanu-PF now only exists in name there but nobody follows it anymore and if we continue on that trajectory, then victory is a given," Musundire said.
The MDC efforts at breaking the Zanu-PF dominance in these areas is being complemented by pressure groups such as Zimbabwe Yadzoka/Mayibuye iZimbabwe which was launched in August 2016.
The pressure group seeks to educate and mobilise the Zimbabwean rural populace over the need to get rid of Mugabe and his Zanu-PF government.
The MDC controls almost all of the country's urban constituencies.
Source - online
