It is a warm afternoon in the serene picturesque rural Jekwa in Murewa South, Mashonaland East province.
The peace is disturbed by the roaring sound of a helicopter
landing at one of the homesteads in this poverty-stricken community.
Villagers from a distance flocked to witness the flying
machine and of course, curious to know why it had landed in their area.
A rich young man, Tawanda Chenana, had flown to this area
in a chartered helicopter for a family gathering.
Some politicians saw an opportunity to lure him into
politics.
In no time, meetings were held, dialogues conducted and top
politicians in the area resolved to push Chenana to stand for the Murewa South
parliamentary seat on the ruling Zanu PF ticket.
To sell his profile, Chenana was nicknamed Chikopokopo,
derived from his grand visit to his home in a helicopter.
From Zanu PF district co-ordinating committee (DCC) members
to party provincial bosses, Chikopokopo became a darling to many and campaigns
began.
He was seen with DCC members all the time, who told the
people that he was coming in as an “investor,” not a politician eying a seat.
With the blessings of influential and party bigwigs,
Chenana started campaigning through various developmental projects as well as
sponsoring party events.
While others were being barred from campaigning,
Chikopokopo was being disguised as an “investor” whose mandate was to bring
meaningful development to Murewa South constituency, popularly known as
Macheke.
The area, despite its proximity to major cities and towns
is reeling under abject poverty and underdevelopment despite heavyweight
politicians such as the late minister Joel Biggie Matiza, having represented it
in Parliament.
More rallies and meetings were held in this constituency
where Chikopokopo emerged as the top sponsor and received showers of praises
from the party leaders who were always around him.
The gang surrounding Chikopokopo devised ways to sell him
and at least have him endorsed as the candidate for Murewa South constituency
despite him having no roots in the party structures in this area.
He then bought a vehicle for the a party affiliate
organisation Teachers4ED, that was unveiled at a number of meetings where
hangers on sold Chikopokopo’s name.
Using social media, his team then revealed that he had bought
two ambulances for the constituency. For months, the campaign team used the two
ambulances that were then stationed in South Africa as a bait to the
electorate.
Before President Emmerson Mnangagwa had received the
ambulances, the whole of Murewa South constituency was aware of the existence
of the vehicles.
Social media platforms across the constituency were awash
with the ambulances, still with their South African registration plates on.
Upon their arrival in the country, Mnangagwa was meant to
commission the second-hand ambulances.
The ambulances were supposed to be dispatched to Jekwa and
Macheke clinics.
A campaign rally was organised at Jekwa led by senior Zanu
PF officials, with the agenda being to campaign using one of the ambulances.
The ambulance destined for Jekwa broke down along the way due to the bad state
of the roads.
The organisers had to take the ambulance destined for
Macheke clinic to Jekwa instead. The Macheke ambulance was eventually delivered
a day before the Zanu PF primary elections.
Zanu PF held its primary elections on March 25 in which
Noah Mangondo emerged victorious. Despite efforts by senior Zanu PF officials
to push Chikopokopo to victory, he came a distant third in the race that had
four contestants, among them incumbent legislator Nyasha Masoka.
Despite being commissioned by Mnangagwa, the Jekwa
ambulance failed to reach its destination and is still absent at the clinic.
Some Zanu PF politicians said it was a bad move to take the
low-profile Hyundai vehicles as ambulances to remote areas like Jekwa. Newsday
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