Zanu-PF eyes Bulawayo seats in 2023

Zanu-PF's Bulawayo Greens district political commissar Elias Mweneziko said the party was set to regain all the seats it lost to the opposition in 2018.

Bulawayo has been an opposition stronghold since the turn of the century in 2000 and during the 2018 general elections, the ruling party only managed to win one ward (ward 28) after the opposition blundered by fielding double candidates.

Raji Modi is the only ruling party Member of Parliament (Bulawayo South), while Kidwell Mujuru is the only Zanu-PF councillor for ward 28.

Mweneziko told Southern Eye that as the country prepares for the 2023 plebiscite, the ruling party had set up strong structures and hoped to ride on the possibility of the revival of Bulawayo's defunct companies that would create more than 1 500 jobs.

‘'Bulawayo has never been a stronghold for Zanu-PF, and we know that it is dominated by the opposition. However, this will change in next year's elections as we aim to garner five million votes. We will be putting in place structures and projects that are going to help to turn things upside down,'' Mweneziko said.

He said the ruling party was targeting to resuscitate the National Railways of Zimbabwe, Cold Storage Company and others to create 1 500 jobs for Bulawayo residents.

"We are also incentivising small businesses by delivering chickens, and are mobilising voters through door-to-door campaigns," he added.

Meanwhile, the Zanu-PF-aligned Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) is preparing for a congress amid reports that members are already jostling for positions.

This follows the vetting of 160 000 non-combatant war veterans.

Bulawayo ZNLWVA chairperson Cephas Ncube told Southern Eye that the war veterans held their executive council meeting at their offices on Saturday, and resolved to hold an elective national congress soon.