AS Zimbabwe barrels towards next year’s harmonised elections, Zanu PF is firing from all cylinders winning elections in urban areas and increasing its leads in rural constituencies in a bold statement that analysts say spell doom for the crisis-riddled opposition.
In the past few years, Zanu PF has been thumping the
opposition in by-elections, and on the rare occasions that it has lost the gap
has been marginal, something that analysts say shows the universal appeal of
the ruling party that has been implementing policies that resonate with the
masses under the leadership of President Mnangagwa.
A cursory glance at the results of by-elections held over
the weekend saw the ruling party winning in Binga Ward 20, 945 votes against
CCC’s 546 votes, and also snatching Gweru ward 5 from the opposition after its
candidate got 556 votes to the CCC candidate’s 472.
Notably, these wards were both strongholds of the
opposition and the victory by Zanu PF shows the party’s making inroads while
increasing its lead in rural areas like Mberengwa where the revolutionary party
got 726 votes to the CCC’s measly 81 votes.
Zanu PF Midlands provincial chairman Senator Larry Mavima
said the win in Gweru urban was a sign that the revolutionary party was moving
in the right direction in terms of its campaign strategy ahead of the 2023 bye
elections.
“These are just warning shots to the opposition of what to
expect come elections next year. They make noise on social media but as the
revolutionary party, we are sharpening our campaign strategy and we are heading
for a resounding victory come next year,” said Sen Mavima who is also the
Midlands Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister.
In an interview yesterday, Zanu PF spokesperson Ambassador
Chris Mutsvangwa described the victory as “gratifying”.
“Zanu PF, the party of the permanent Zimbabwe revolution is
heartened by the current spate of wins in ward by-election results of Binga and
Gweru. Even more gratifying is the swing away of the electorate from the
failure-prone CCC in urban jurisdictions.
“The message that President Mnangagwa delivers on prospects
of prosperity is gathering traction.
Urban voters notice the palpable and tangible changes in the rural
strongholds of Zanu-PF. These have been wrought by President EDM and his Second
Republic. The urbanites are now similarly clamouring for the economic magic
wand of President Mnangagwa,” he said.
Against a backdrop of poor service delivery in urban areas
characterised by heaps of uncollected garbage, unplanned settlements, rivulets
of sewage, and equally stinking corruption in the town house corridors,
observers say it is little wonder the pendulum has shifted in favour of Zanu PF
and in particular the indefatigable President Mnangagwa.
“They want him to fumigate the stinking rot of urban decay
that is the hallmark of more than two decades of MDC-CCC misrule. As the saying goes: Nothing succeeds like
success. The writing on the wall is starkly clear in black and white.
“The national harmonised elections will deliver a landslide
for President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF. By the same token, it will be a
whitewash for (Mr Nelson) Chamisa and his crisis-ridden CCC. Ivory tower
intrigue is no answer to concrete forward-looking policies underpinned by
concrete programmes,” said Ambassador Mutsvangwa.
While the opposition is latching from one blunder to
another—President Mnangagwa is delivering on his electoral promises, building
schools, roads, and dams, and also creating jobs for the youth. His party Zanu
PF has entrenched democratic practices as opposed to the structure-less and
one-man-led CCC.
Because of that Cde Mutsvangwa said: “Erstwhile allies are
deserting and shifting back to Zanu PF. The media is awash with all damaging
exposé. Foreign funders are getting stingy with their slush funds destined for
an increasingly quixotic African political misadventure of the post-colonial
era of Zimbabwe. Worse, the European fratricidal war in Ukraine has ensured
that the sponsors of African mayhem have their hands full.
“It is a truism that Chamisa’s CCC has always been plagued
by thinness of non-existent organisational capacity. This vice is now being
aggravated by the paucity of funding.
While President Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF glory in vote victory, Chamisa
and his CCC languish in recurring nightmares of the electoral rout. He spurned
away the golden offer of the Official Leader of the Opposition in Parliament.
Now he rants against his MP deputies over housing loans they rightly deserve
and have duly accepted. No wonder the
electorate is meting out due and appropriate punishment,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.
Herald
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