'Mnangagwa has remembered Bulawayo'

MINISTER of State for Bulawayo Province Angeline Masuku has heaped praises on the leadership of President Emmerson Mnangagwa saying under the new political dispensation, there has been noticeable change within the region, which for long was ignored in issues of national development.

Speaking in Bulawayo yesterday during celebrations for low cost airline FastJet's inaugural flight from Harare, Masuku said the new dispensation had taken a different approach of remembering the once marginalised people of Bulawayo.

"People of Bulawayo were always said to be cry-babies, but we stopped the crying in November last year and it is all smiles right now because the new dispensation has brought smiles for Bulawayo," Masuku said.

"FastJet is here to assist, to add on to the two flights that are flying to Bulawayo. This is one of the biggest smiles that the new dispensation has brought for Bulawayo."

Government has always been blamed for neglecting and marginalising Bulawayo and in extension, the Matabeleland provinces in all its developmental initiatives, as evidenced by defunct industries and alarming unemployment rates across the region.

Both Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, who are front runners in the looming Presidential polls, have since promised to enforce devolution of power to provincial authorities in a bid to tackle underdevelopment in the provinces.

Masuku said the introduction of the Harare to Bulawayo route by FastJet had been made possible by the new dispensation's willingness to turn around the fortunes of the city under government's newly found 'Open for Business" mantra.

"We say Bulawayo is open for business and this is business. Let me say that this is one of the fruits of the new dispensation that has brought FastJet to Bulawayo. They negotiated for a long time to have their wings fly to Bulawayo and it never happened, but it has happened now because of the new dispensation."