OPPOSITION MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa yesterday said he would now head to Manicaland province after his tour of Masvingo province last week turned violent and he was allegedly teargassed by the police and had his convoy attacked by suspected Zanu PF activists.
Chamisa told NewsDay that his party was putting more energy
into interactions with rural people as there was a lot of developmental work
which needed to be done in the villages after years of neglect by the Zanu PF
government.
“I now stay in rural areas, I only visit Harare,” Chamisa
said.
“I will be in another area this week because the challenges
are in the rural areas. We have problems with water, infrastructure and a whole
lot of issues, and that’s why at one point, we had a whole ministry dedicated
to that. It’s only that they did not understand its importance.
“For one to understand rural problems, you have to stay
with them (rural people), and I personally grew up in the village and that is
where I am staying and am only visiting Harare so that I understand more of
what needs to be done.”
Chamisa said there was need for rural areas to be developed
so that they do not become centres of abuse by the “unpopular” to coerce the
marginalised communities into supporting them.
He condemned the use of violence in rural areas, saying
those engaging in such acts were aware that they were unwanted and unpopular.
“Violence is an instrument of the weak and losing. Nobody
deploys violence in their strongholds, never. It’s a lie that Zanu PF has a
rural stronghold, I have seen it,” Chamisa said.
“The relic (of Zanu PF) is terror, weaponisation of food
aid and Zanu PF support programmes. That is their only life support. They have
no organic connection with the masses, vakapiwa gupuro (they were divorced by
the masses).”
Zanu PF boasts a strong rural support that has seen the
party winning with huge margins, while the MDC Alliance has a strong visibility
in urban areas.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been campaigning
vigorously to win the urban vote accusing the MDC Alliance of failing to
provide service delivery to the people.
Zanu PF director for information Tafadzwa Mugwadi yesterday
described Chamisa’s village trips as “provocative” and as “theatrics” that are
only meant to get the attention of the United Nations special rapporteur on
sanctions, Alena Douhan, who is expected to jet in today. Newsday
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