Zanu-PF dishes out free-range chickens

Zanu-PF Churu constituency candidate, Ephraim Fundukwa, has hit the ground running after rolling out several projects in the area in line with President Mnangagwa's clarion call of leaving no one and no place behind.

More than 5 000 women in Ushewokunze and Southlea Park received free range chicks donated by Fundukwa yesterday. At least 12 500 chicks were donated to women as part of empowering them.

The poultry scheme is set to increase their income and alleviate poverty through commercialising urban poultry production, and each group of 10 women in the area was handed 100 chicks.

Addressing thousands of women at a rally in Southlea Park and Ushewokunze areas in Harare yesterday, Fundukwa, who is also Zanu-PF Harare provincial vice chairman, said the free range poultry scheme is set to provide a new revenue stream for women in urban centres.

"We have handed over 12 500 chicks in ward 1 and 6 for women empowerment projects. We are fulfilling President Mnangagwa's mantra of leaving no one and no place behind. President Mnangagwa wants everyone to benefit from the party's policies which are people centred," he said.

The rally was also attended by Harare Provincial Political Commissar Kudakwashe Damson. Damson urged women to vote in their numbers for the ruling party candidates from councillors to the President.

"We want a resounding victory in the coming elections. What we want to assure the electorate is that more projects are coming.  The party is looking into the welfare of the people, despite some economic saboteurs who are inflating prices as a way of sabotaging Government efforts,'' he said.

Damson said women should apply their knowledge of rearing indigenous poultry, popularly known as road runners, which will later be sold leaving the people economically empowered.

Fundukwa also donated school uniforms and is paying fees for a number of under privileged students in his constituency

He encouraged women to take up poultry farming seriously to upgrade their living standards.

The electorate, Fundukwa said, should vote for President Mnangagwa for urban renewal which is currently at the centre of Zanu-PF's policies. The elections, to be held on August 23, offer the electorate an opportunity to boot out incompetent and often corrupt opposition councillors from the cities.

Over the past two decades, when the opposition has been running cities, service delivery has ground to a halt — roads are potholed, garbage goes uncollected while the city fathers line their pockets with loot from council coffers.

The deplorable situation in urban areas has often seen central Government stepping-in to rescue the urbanites — through construction of dams to end water woes, and rehabilitating roads in fulfilment of President Mnangagwa's pledge to initiate development that leaves no one and no place behind.

President Mnangagwa has already issued title deeds in Epworth with more expected for urban dwellers.

Government has also built new water sources — such as Kunzvi Dam that is already under construction and is expected to end Harare's perennial water woes — and several development projects across the country in line with the devolution agenda which is being financed to the tune of $40 billion this year.