Masvingo slams door on Chiwenga, backs Mnangagwa 2023

Zanu-PF Masvingo Province has passed a resolution endorsing President Mnangagwa as the party's Presidential candidate in the next elections in 2023 to afford him ample time to fulfil his vision of making Zimbabwe a middle-income economy by 2030.

The party's Provincial Coordinating Committee (PCC) on Sunday said President Mnangagwa's endorsement was the first among several resolutions from Masvingo Province that will be tabled at the forthcoming Zanu-PF Annual National People's Conference to be held in Esigodini.

The development comes as the Zanu-PF Youth League here recently announced that they were backing President Mnangagwa to be the Zanu-PF Presidential candidate in the next polls due five years from now.

Speaking after the PCC meeting held at Victoria Junior Primary School, Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial chair Ezra Chadzamira said the province endorsed President Mnangagwa to remain at the helm of the party.

Chadzamira, who is also Minister of State for Masvingo Provincial Affairs, said the province also stood guided by the national Constitution that allowed a President to serve for not more than two terms.

President Mnangagwa's first constitutional Presidential term started from this year and will run until the next polls in 2023. The Zanu-PF leader will be eligible to run for another five-year term up to 2028, which will be his last according to the national Constitution.

"We came up with resolutions for our forthcoming Annual National People's Conference and President Mnangagwa's endorsement as our party leader into the 2023 elections is actually on top of the resolutions that will be tabled by Masvingo Province," said Chadzamira.

"Our national Constitution is very clear that a President can only serve for two terms, which means we have our President for the next two terms in President Mnangagwa. So, as Zanu-PF Masvingo, we feel there is no need now to talk about who will be the Presidential candidate in 2023 because we already have someone there, who is President Mnangagwa.

"So, what we are saying clearly as Zanu-PF Masvingo is that our resolution is that our Constitution is very clear that President Mnangagwa is there until 2023 when we will have elections again."

Zanu-PF Masvingo provincial spokesperson Ronald Ndava said President Mnangagwa's endorsement to remain at the helm of the party was motivated by the sterling job he was doing as the country's leader.

"We resolved that President Mnangagwa should remain at the helm because of the good work that he is doing to develop the country's economy," he said.

"There are many positive things that the President is doing such as re-engaging the international community and rolling out programmes such as Command Agriculture to make sure Zimbabwe achieves food self-sufficiency."

Ndava said the ruling party in Masvingo fully backed President Mnangagwa's anti-corruption crusade. He said laws should be tightened to make sure those caught in the anti-graft dragnet were jailed.

In his address at the PCC meeting, Zanu-PF secretary for security Lovemore Matuke said now that the ruling party won the July 30 polls, focus should be on developmental projects that uplift the lives of ordinary people.

Matuke suggested that a separate PCC meeting, devoid of political issues, be scheduled, whose beat will only be to discuss developmental projects that economically benefit the province.