Grade 2 dropout now Kwekwe MP

Politics
ZANU PF’S Kwekwe Central MP-elect Masango Matambanadzo, popularly known as Blackman, managed to do what his provincial political God-father Emmerson Mnangagwa twice failed to do — wrestle the seat from MDC-T’s Blessing Chebundo.

ZANU PF’S Kwekwe Central MP-elect Masango Matambanadzo, popularly known as Blackman, managed to do what his provincial political God-father Emmerson Mnangagwa twice failed to do — wrestle the seat from MDC-T’s Blessing Chebundo.

Report By Blessed Mhlanga, Staff Reporter

Matambanadzo, a self-confessed Grade Two dropout beat Chebundo in the July 31 harmonised elections.

“A lot has been said about my educational qualifications but I say I am educated I went to school,” he said.

“I did my Grade One then Grade 2 and stopped there. But I know what the people want and how to do it.”

Recently, Chebundo stirred a hornet’s nest after he poked fun at Matambanadzo’s education level.

He labelled his rival an empty vessel during a public debate organised by Misa-Zimbabwe, triggering an angry response from Matambanadzo’s supporters.

A former photographer who used to earn a living on the streets taking pictures, Matambanadzo now owns commercial buildings in Amaveni but has no residential property of his own.

“The MP for this area stays at the back of his Amavemi tuckshop, he has no known house,” said Allen Matema, a Zanu PF supporter.

“He sleeps there, that’s where you can find him.”

Insiders in the Matambanadzo camp said the MP-elect relies on aides who do the writing and reading for him. During filing of nomination papers, Matmbanadzo allegedly failed to write his details on the nomination papers until the aides came to his rescue.

Chebundo made his name by flooring Mnangagwa in the 2000 and 2005 parliamentary elections.