WAR veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda has refused to take sole credit for Zanu PF’s performance in Manicaland, Masvingo and Matabeleland South and North, where he embarked on a number of campaigns prior to the elections.
Report by Nduduzo Tshuma
Sibanda said there were many factors that led to Zanu PF’s victory nationwide.
“Well I cannot attribute all to those programmes, because there were other players in different levels and from different angles,” he said on Friday.
“Our party in government played a pivotal role, our ministries did well regardless of the fact that the West were trying to promote ministries manned by MDC people giving them funding from non-governmental organisations.”
Sibanda said MDC-T refused to back the agricultural sector, as they believed blacks were not legitimate owners of land.
“President Robert Mugabe had to source fertiliser using a Presidential fund that he has, fertiliser and seed for our people no matter on a personal level reached a lot of people,” he added.
“If you go to places that enjoyed adequate rain, look at the tobacco sales, there are bumper harvests in the provinces, the President made sacrifices under sanctions to provide these for the people.”
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Sibanda said theZanu PF had also received support from churches, business people and ordinary party members to secure electoral victory.
“We give results to our people, results of hard work in an election for the party to win, which will turn out to be the result that has been promised to our people that entail development accountability to all our programmes,” he said.
The war veterans’ leader said MDC-T will never win an election and party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai “will go down in history as a man who almost deceived the people and won out of deception”. Sibanda said it was unfortunate that Bulawayo rejected Zanu PF yet the MDCs were the ones responsible for the collapse of industries.
“What the people of Bulawayo do not understand is that they have transferred the problem from the causer to the victim and blame it on the victim,” he charged.
“The state of industry in Bulawayo is dead because of the sanctions that were invited by the MDCs, they are blaming that now on the victim Zanu PF who was affected by the sanctions instead of MDCs.”
Sibanda doubted Bulawayo will vote for the MDC-T in the next elections, saying the recent polls had produced strong leadership in Matabeleland.
“If there is any underdevelopment of Matabeleland it is not by means of State power but lack of representation of the people of the region,” he said.
“We have strong leaders from this election, we have the likes of Obert Mpofu he is a strong person and has tried his best, we have the national chairman (Simon Khaya Moyo) look at his role in the performance of Matabeleland South.”
Dismissing protests by the Western countries and Botswana on the outcome of the elections, Sibanda said neither was a good judge on the country’s polls.
