'Election victory shocked Mugabe,' says Khaya Moyo

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe was shocked by Zanu-PF's clean sweep in Matabeleland South and did not initially believe results of the July 31 general polls, party national chairperson Simon Khaya Moyo said on Saturday.

Addressing hundreds of his party supporters at a victory celebration launch at Phelandaba Stadium in Gwanda, Moyo said Mugabe was shocked by the results and kept asking whether they were real.

Zanu-PF won all 13 seats to take full control of the province for the first time since independence.

"When the results were coming in, the President was shocked and did not believe we had swept across Matabeleland South. He kept asking, 'is it true we have won?'" Khaya Moyo, who is also the Senior Minister without Portofolio, said.

"He said I should thank you all for a job well done. You did wonders."

Moyo said Zanu-PF had lost the 2008 elections to a protest vote as the majority of people had been facing starvation.

"In 2008, you voted with your stomachs, but it is good that you are now back home and (the late Vice-President) Joshua Nkomo is happy you have returned to where you belong."

He said the government was committed to providing food to thousands of people facing starvation in the province saying "no one should die of hunger".

This comes amid reports the Grain Marketing Board is failing to meet maize demand in the province.

Moyo challenged parliamentarians to work with the people in improving their plight saying non-performing legislators would not be tolerated as they would now be required to produce quarterly reports on the work they would be doing in their constituencies.