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Mnangagwa's star rally rolls into Mashonaland West

by Staff reporter
04 Mar 2022 at 05:34hrs | Views
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa is today expected to address legions of Zanu-PF supporters in Mashonaland West as he continues with his crusade to ensure the revolutionary party triumphs in the upcoming by-elections.

The President, who is also Zanu-PF First Secretary, will first lead in the National Clean-Up Campaign in Chegutu town's Ward 9 before a rally at Pfupajena Stadium.

Zanu-PF spokesperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, told a press conference at the party headquarters in Harare yesterday that winning the hearts and minds of the electorate is the focus of the ruling party.

"That is why you see the President going the length and breadth of the nation. We want to harvest votes in these areas, we have what it takes and giving them a stake in urban property. Title deeds will be issued way before March 26 to urban dwellers, we have a date for that," he said.

He said the revolutionary party has nothing to do with the violence that took place in Kwekwe last weekend as it was caused by CCC's  Nelson Chamisa as a way of attracting attention of the United States and its Western Allies set to renew economic sanctions against Zimbabwe.

"Violence in Kwekwe, investigations are ongoing, we cannot as a party be accused by social media, it shows that it was a premeditated agenda. Violence was caused by their leaders in the CCC, commanding his youths to drive others out. We are witnessing yellow, it's a warning that they should desist from thinking they would take the law into their own hands.

"Why does this always happen in February for the past 20 years? Every February the EU and the US renew sanctions, so there was an effort that something happens in February for the past 20 years and this is not meant for Zimbabwe people, it's a message for handlers. Chamisa parrots the message of puppetry and Zanu-PF has nothing to do with violence in Kwekwe," he said.

Zimbabwe has been under economic sanctions for the past two decades at the behest of the opposition political party. The US and its Western allies renew these sanctions in February, hence the choreographed violence by members of CCC.

In various interviews conducted by The Herald yesterday, people lauded President Mnangagwa and the ruling party for spearheading projects that have positively changed their lives.

For people in the Chegutu district, the Second Republic has brought health, education and other infrastructure developments.

Former Chegutu Rural District Council's (CRDC) Ward 22 councillor and Danangwe villager, Alderman Joseph Mashona said the coming in of the Second Republic has seen several developmental projects being implemented and achieved in the district.

"We now have a clinic in our village that was constructed using devolution funds. We have been staying in this village for over 20 years, walking over 23 kilometres to access health care service at the nearest clinic but that all has come to an end," said Alderman Mashona.

Another resident of the town, Mr Michael Marecha, said the Second Republic had through devolution funds made it easy for Chegutu RDC to rehabilitate roads and bridges that had gone for decades without being attended to.

"For years, the CRDC failed to attend to roads while bridges constantly got swept away by heavy rains due to poor designs. The Second Republic has made it a priority to attend to roads across the country and we have since benefited as more than 40km in Chegutu East constituency have been rehabilitated," he said.

The council contracted Central Mechanical Engineering Department (CMED) to rehabilitate the roads and three small bridges using part of its $17 million disbursed under ERRP2 last year.

In Sanyati district, the Second Republic has received multitudes of plaudits for actively addressing health challenges through the Rural District Council.

The council is constructing two state-of-the-art clinics at the heart of the remotest areas in the district equipped with high-tech equipped laboratories, male and female wards, laundry, flushing ablution services.

Mr Shame Murido, from Marimari village said people have been walking long distances to access healthcare services since resettlement.

"As villagers, we are supplying bricks and other labour requirements. We want to thank President Mnangagwa for availing funds as more than 136 plots surrounding the clinic and other areas will benefit from the clinic," he said.

An elated Ms Tendai Manenji said the long distance from the village to the nearest health care centre and damaged roads, were claiming the lives of expecting mothers and their unborn children.

The council is also constructing a similar clinic in Masasa Village from the devolution funds. The Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) has partnered with the two districts to construct the clinics.

During the press conference yesterday,  Zanu-PF national political commissar, Mike  Bimha, said the overwhelming response from the people demonstrates that the party has a clear vision.

"As a well-established party, we have solid ideas, programmes and a clear vision of where we are going and our end game is the complete transformation of the country to enable the economy to respond to national development needs and the aspirations of the citizenry in a sustainable manner.

"Recently, we held a very successful rally in Kwekwe and would like to thank the thousands of our supporters and the public who came to hear the President speak on a variety of initiatives and programmes that have huge national impact and indeed, extremely important for the revival of major economic activity in Kwekwe and the Midlands in general.

"While talking about Kwekwe, we take note of the violence that took place a day after we held a peaceful rally. We regret the loss of the precious life and extend our deepest sympathy to the family of the deceased. Obviously, we still do not know what exactly happened, but hope that the Zimbabwe Republic Police will get to the bottom of it and will take appropriate action in terms of the law without fear or favour."

Bimha said President Mnangagwa is and has been constantly voicing against political violence.

"Violence is not in the New Dispensation DNA. Those pointing fingers at us are legendary for spreading falsehoods, faking abductions, using hate and violent language on Twitter, threatening violence when things do not go their way, and have needlessly orchestrated violent,  street demonstration and are highly intolerant of differences."



Source - The Herald