Voters in urban areas have an opportunity to get quality services such as clean water, addressing of burst sewer pipes and trafficable roads if they vote for President Mnangagwa and all ZANU PF candidates on August 23.
This was said by Vice President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, who is also ZANU PF Second Secretary, while addressing thousands of the revolutionary party supporters at the Mbare Netball Complex open space in Harare yesterday.
The hugely subscribed rally, which drew thousands of party supporters primarily from Mbare and Southerton constituencies, was held to drum up support for ZANU PF candidates for the Presidential, parliamentary and council candidates.
The two constituencies, like the bulk in Harare and other towns and cities, have been dominated by opposition parties.
But VP Chiwenga said the ruling party believes urban voters have been ill-treated by successive opposition parties since 2000 and should now vote for ZANU PF candidates to get real development.
ZANU PF is being represented by Cde Martin Matinyanya in Mbare constituency and Cde Maureen Nyemba in Southerton constituency.
With Zimbabwe experiencing rapid economic development underlined by massive infrastructure development, growth in various sectors such as mining, agriculture and manufacturing, VP Chiwenga has challenged urban voters to vote for the ruling party to benefit from its policies.
“The August 23 elections come on the backdrop of people in urban areas, whose councils are under opposition parties, having to endure several years of suffering in the absence of services that councils should provide,” said VP Chiwenga.
“Urban roads have become impassable, clean water has long deserted our taps and garbage is largely uncollected, piling near our homes. Their stints in council have clearly shown that these opposition parties are not good for anything except making lives difficult for residents and inviting illegal economic sanctions on the country.
“As the ruling party, we are pained to see our people being subjected to this sad kind of living marked by poverty as a result of opposition councils’ ineptitude and corruption.
“August 23 is an opportunity to correct this by resoundingly voting for President Mnangagwa and ruling party candidates for council and parliamentary seats.”
VP Chiwenga said in the run-up to the 2018 elections, ZANU PF had drawn an extensive plan for the modernisation of Mbare, particularly important amenities such as the bus terminus, the market and the suburb’s dwellings.
Part of the thousands of Zanu PF supporters who thronged Mbare Netball Complex in Harare yesterday for the revolutionary party’s rally. — Pictures: Joseph Manditswara
However, the plans were blocked by opposition councillors once they were voted into office.
The urban rot is now impeding the attainment of an upper-middle income economy being championed by President Mnangagwa, he said.
VP Chiwenga said the Government appreciates the role of the people of Mbare in economic development, adding that they also appreciate enterprising youths and celebrated luminaries who rose to prominence in Mbare, as supported by the granting of liberation war hero status to the late celebrated music icon, Soul Jah Love.
ZANU PF Harare provincial chairman Cde Godwills Masimirembwa said the province was firmly behind President Mnangagwa and all party candidates.
He added that the people of Harare now know that the real enemy is the opposition, which has failed to deliver services resulting in the capital city losing its Sunshine City status.
“The infrastructural development initiatives championed by President Mnangagwa are there for everyone to see and we promise that Harare Province will never be under the leadership of the opposition,” said Cde Masimirembwa.
Opposition parties running urban councils have failed to do any one development since 2000 and they blame the ruling party for their failures.
Most urban areas now have some good roads after the Government resolved to intervene to save the situation which had gone out of hand.
Motorists had been spending a lot of their money on buying spare parts, especially suspension, pushing up the demand for foreign currency, which could have been used for other developmental projects if rods were in good shape.
Zanu PF supporters attend a rally at Mbare Netball Complex in Harare yesterday
Despite getting money from the Government to invest in clean water, opposition-run councils have largely squandered the money on personal niceties such as top-of-the-range vehicles, cellphones and hefty allowances, and not service delivery.
Herald
