VICE-PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has been roped in to lure voters in Bulawayo ahead of Wednesday’s by-elections with Zanu PF’s ZimAsset blueprint and revival of collapsed industries top on his campaign agenda.
BY NQOBILE BHEBHE
Five by-elections are due in Mpopoma, Lobengula, Pumula, Makokoba and Luveve. Zanu PF has fielded candidates who will battle it out with Zapu and scores of independent candidates who have upped campaigns through holding a series of door-to-door meetings in all five constituencies.
The ruling party has not won a single seat in Bulawayo since the formation of the MDC in 1999.
Zanu PF has gone for the jugular ahead of by-elections boycotted by the MDCs, conducting road shows and distributing flyers stating that Bulawayo has not developed because it “is the only province that is outside the government and Zanu PF”.
The flyers have angered the electorate, the majority who are among thousands that have been thrown out of employment as de-industrialisation in Bulawayo, once the industrial hub of Zimbabwe, continues with no end in sight.
According to Zanu PF, Mnangagwa is expected to headline a star rally today at White City Stadium and will focus on “ZimAsset programmes, revival of Bulawayo industries, development programmes, way forward on land policy and vision ‘2020 — eradicating corruption’,” to lure voters.
Mnangagwa will officiate at the handover ceremony of a Highlanders team bus at Barbourfields Stadium in a move some have interpreted as a campaign gimmick since Zanu PF Makokoba candidate, Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube, sourced part of the funds towards the purchase.
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The ZimAsset blueprint promised 2,2 million jobs in 2013, but since then, thousands of workers have lost their employment as companies continued to shut close due to economic problems.
More than 100 companies have closed in Bulawayo alone throwing over 20 000 workers onto the streets.
Dube, Ntandoyenkosi Mlilo, Joseph Tshuma, Godfrey Malaba and Maidei Mpala will be representing Zanu PF in the five constituencies.
