Zanu-PF rolls out manifesto today

ALL roads today lead to the historic Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare, the cradle of nationalist politics where President Mugabe will launch the Zanu-PF manifesto and election campaign for harmonised  elections due end of this month.

Addressing his party's Central Committee and Election 2013 candidates at the Zanu-PF national headquarters in Harare yesterday, the President described the Zimbabwe Grounds as the "cradle of the revolution".

The grounds hosted Mugabe and Dr Joshua Nkomo upon their return from Mozambique and Zambia where they had led Zanla and Zipra combatants during the liberation struggle.

President Mugabe yesterday told Zanu-PF party cadres that Highfield was home to most of the revolution's founding fathers, among them the late national heroes Dr Nkomo, Herbert Chitepo and Leopold Takawira.

"I want to urge you to be present tomorrow (today) and to cause others to also attend tomorrow's launch," President Mugabe said in his closing remarks.

"We want the launch to be, some say resounding, thunderous and devastating to the enemy.

"Just as well, we are going to have this at a venue in Highfield which was really a maker of our revolution, a maker of our struggle."

"So, it is the cradle, cradle, cradle in the sense of our revolution as well. We are going there to revive the past and to get that atmosphere of the past into the present and say a real campaign that will see us do very much better than we did in 2008."

Earlier on, the President had said a number of policy pronouncements would be made at the launch.

"Tomorrow we will launch our campaign and naturally we will make announcements on some requirements we would want to go through the entire process of campaigning.

"We will in the course of the campaign emphasise certain approaches that need to be undertaken for us to be effective and yield at the end the numbers that will vote for us.

"Assess our constituencies and wards properly, get down to the people down to the grassroots, rallies - yes we will have but let's learn that the most effective way of campaigning is that of talking to the people.

"To do that we should not just say 'pasi ne MDC' tinozviita kurally izvozvo. Narrate why Zanu-PF is a better party than the MDC-T, narrate the achievements of the party and the retrogressive activities of the MDC-T, expose them to the people," he said.

The Zanu-PF election manifesto and campaign will run under the theme "Indigenise, Empower, Develop and Create Employment" with the catch phrase "Bhora Mugedhi/Ibhola Egedini" rallying the party to move in unison to resounding victory in the polls.

Zanu-PF national commissar Webster Shamu said gates at Zimbabwe Grounds would be opened at 6am to 9am for delegates from the country's 10 provinces while Central Committee and Politburo members would arrive soon after.

He said national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo would arrive next before Vice President Joice Mujuru who is expected to arrive between 11:25am and 11:30am.
President Mugabe - who is the guest of honour - would then arrive between 11:30am and 11:45am before delivering his keynote address.

All party candidates for the Senate, National Assembly and women's quota were introduced to the party's First Secretary and President yesterday.