MDC in Mubaira, Mhondoro |
Over the weekend, party leader Nelson Chamisa was in
Bindura, where he addressed thousands of supporters, while his deputy Tendai
Biti crossed into Nyanyadzi in Chimanimani to address rallies and challenge
Zanu PF’s rural hegemony.
Chamisa said his party had developed a rural strategy,
which would see the opposition set up strong structures and begin developmental
projects to challenge Zanu PF and show that it is the alternative.
“We are going to be in the rural areas, helping the communities,
build bridges where there are rivers, ensuring that we share the problems and
burdens of our people in the countryside. We cannot afford to have our presence
removed from the people,” he said.
Addressing supporters in Bindura, Chamisa promised a new
beginning, telling his supporters that it was now time for bravery in the face
of an unrelenting clampdown on anti-government protests by the ruling elite.
“We need to be brave, it is time for us to put bravery
ahead of everything else because we are almost getting there. We are about to
deliver freedom to this country, a new beginning and prosperity, the dawn is
upon us. Let us not give up hope, let us keep pressing,” he said.
Chamisa has been pushing his supporters and other non-MDC
players to join in national protests to constitutionally oust Mnangagwa from
power before 2023.
He has pledged that his party will bring out it’s A game
against the sitting government even if blood shed appears inevitable.
Biti, speaking in Nyanyadzi, said the MDC would roll out
the Development and Urbanisation of Rural Areas (Dura) programme to ensure a
convergence of the countryside and cities.
“Dura is an urgent national agenda. It is sad that 40 years
after independence, 70% of Zimbabwe has no electricity, piped water or modern
ablutions. This is an indictment of the regime. The dual enclave of the economy
must go,” Biti said.
The MDC said it would ensure that once it took over
governance, it empowers locals by building a strong economy that can support
jobs and dreams even in the rural areas, thereby removing food aid as a
political weapon.
“We need foreign direct investment from America, from the
European Union, from everywhere in the world to rebuild our economy and empower
our people. The only people who can create that trust and confidence for
companies to invest in Zimbabwe is the MDC. Who can put their money into a
government led by Emmerson Mnangagwa,” Biti said.
The MDC has since tasked deputy organising secretary
Happymore Chidziva to lead its rural penetration strategy with the hope of
upstaging Zanu PF.
Chidziva said he was busy planting and re-energising the
rural structures to ensure that the party was ready to win the next polls.
“We have noticed that Zanu PF inflates numbers in the rural
areas and uses fear, threats and food as a political weapon. We can’t allow
this to continue. Therefore, we are now occupying that space and resisting the
violence by protecting our own people,” he said.
Chidziva said demonstrations should not only be
concentrated in urban areas, adding that the MDC would also ensure that
resistance of poor governance and theft of elections came even from rural
areas.
During the last politburo meeting, Mnangagwa instructed his
party to solidify its hold in rural areas, where the party gets over 80% of its
votes.
He even instructed government to take resources and
developmental programmes to the countryside, as the battle for 2023 general
elections begin to roll out. Newsday
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