Zanu-PF will not produce a flowery document as its manifesto ahead of next month’s harmonised elections, but is standing on the record of the Second Republic and will let its life-changing developmental projects delivered to the people in the past five years speak for themselves to the electorate.
Deeds rather than words were the manifesto, Justice, Legal
and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is also President
Mnangagwa’s chief election agent, said last week during a Zimpapers Television
Network Prime current affairs programme, “The Chase”, where he was one of the
guests to discuss the forthcoming elections.
Other participants included MDC-T leader Mr Douglas
Mwonzora and Mr Lloyd Msipa, who was representing independent presidential candidate,
Mr Saviour Kasukuwere.
Responding to a question on why Zanu-PF had not launched
its political manifesto detailing what it intends to do should it be
re-elected, Minister Ziyambi said the Government led by the revolutionary party
has been implementing development projects in infrastructure, agriculture,
education, science and ICT, among others, and those achievements would be its
manifesto and not a meaningless flowery document.
“In the past we used to concentrate on writing beautiful
manifestos. In 2018, our President said let’s start writing our manifesto now
by our deeds,” said Minister Ziyambi.
“We started by looking at our infrastructure; we have done
a lot of infrastructure development and we are still doing it; the Beitbridge
Border Post, our roads.
“In fact, in the past we used to look for outsiders to do
infrastructure development for us and we said to ourselves in 2018, why are we
doing this? Let us build our country, let’s look inside and he (the President)
coined the philosophy, ‘Nyika inovakwa nevene vayo’.”
Minister Ziyambi said through the infrastructure
development such as road construction, many jobs have been created. Further
jobs have been created in dam construction.
Added Minister Ziyambi: “Look at the agriculture sector, we
have turned it around from a US$2 billion industry to US$8 billion. That’s our
manifesto.
“We decided against having a manifesto written where people
criticise saying ‘this is mere talk’, we are moving with a practical manifesto.
“So, Zanu-PF is not producing any document; we are talking
of the deeds and we are saying this is a man of action (President Mnangagwa)
who is saying ‘let’s go on and do it ourselves as Zimbabweans’.”
Zanu-PF has been drawing bumper crowds at its star rallies led
by President Mnangagwa.
In respect of the question asked by Mr Msipa, who felt it
was not prudent to have a law that sought to bar someone from contesting
presidential elections on the basis that he had not been ordinarily resident in
the country as is the case with Mr Kasukuwere, Minister Ziyambi said that arose
from the national Constitution.
This comes as the High Court upheld a contention by Mr
Lovedale Mangwana, who sought to have Mr Kasukuwere’s nomination as a
presidential candidate nullified on the basis that he has not been ordinarily
resident in Zimbabwe for the past 18 months and so was no longer qualified as a
voter.
The Supreme Court will be making the final decision at the
end of this week after hearing the urgent appeal.
Minister Ziyambi said Mr Kasukuwere had all the time he
needed to challenge the law during the constitution-making process, in which he
participated. “We have a Constitution that was passed on March 14, 2013, and
that Constitution, Saviour Kasukuwere participated in ensuring that it was
passed.
“It has a specific clause, section 91, which states what
the qualifications for someone to be a Presidential candidate are. And from
2013, he never questioned that particular clause. “When we have laws, we follow
the laws; we don’t follow emotions, if the law says you must be a Zimbabwean
citizen, if you are a Zambian, you are still my brother but you cannot contest
the Presidential election here. If it says you must be over 40 years, if you
are 35 you will still be my little sister but you cannot contest the election,”
said Minister Ziyambi.
Laws are there to be obeyed when they are enacted, said
Minister Ziyambi, but said they could be debated and changed.
“It is not even about Zanu-PF, but about the laws that
exist. Let us allow the courts to do their work and improve our jurisprudence.
I do not see the reason why they must go out there and accuse Zanu-PF as if
they were not part of the law-making process,” he said. Herald
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