Political gloom grips Manicaland

A GLOOMY atmosphere engulfed Manicaland province yesterday, as the electorate struggled to come to terms with the reality that some Zanu PF "deadwood' MPs had bounced back.

Residents, who spoke to NewsDay, said some of the retained MPs had, for years, been failing to properly represent them in Parliament.

MPs who retained their seats include Nokuthula Matsikenyeri from Chimanimani West, Raymore Machingura in Chipinge Central and Christopher Chingosho (Headlands), among others.

A Mutare lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the calibre of legislators that were elected into office left a lot to be desired.

"Morale is very low in the province. People believe that this is another stolen election by the Zanu PF party. It's back to the drawing board, there is no hope with the calibre of MPs that have been re-elected in office," he said.

"We have same old horses, inflation is going to gallop, unemployment is very high and there is no industry that is going to be re-opened. Since we are going to work with the same MPs, nothing is going to change."

Losing independent candidate Hosiah Chipanga, who was hoping to win the Dangamvura/Chikanga seat, said the country was going nowhere with the candidates who won the elections.

"My attempt to contest in the election is not employment seeking, but is necessitated by the desire to meet and convince, particularly to our African leaders, how best they can live and lead their nations in a Godly manner," he said.

"We are going nowhere with some candidates that have been re-elected into power."

Thomas Zimuto, from Chimanimani West, said the re-elected Matsikenyeri had failed to present their challenges in Parliament.

"I am worried this is the same person (Matsikenyeri) who has failed to address our challenges in Parliament and she has been elected into office again and we don't know what we are going to do," he said.

Another villager from the same constituency, Tatenda Rwizi, echoed similar sentiments.

"We don't know what happened, because we thought the MDC Alliance was going to win the constituency, we need change in this constituency," he said.

Matsikenyeri narrowly defeated MDC Alliance candidate Canaan Matiashe in the elections.

However, Joshua Naite from Mutare said that the election went on very well.

"I believe that the election went on very well because there were observers all over the country and we are quite happy over the process," he said.

However, MDC-Alliance candidate Innocent Gonese retained Mutare Central seat, while Prosper Mutseyami landed the Dangamvura/Chikanga constituency.