AS IT HAPPENED: Bulawayo Presidential Youth Interface Rally

Updates by: Vusumuzi Dube and Simiso Mlevu

Dashboard: Stanford Chiwanga, Mayibongwe Madlela

15:08: Proceedings have ended here. That’s it folks. We are done for today.

15:02: She has announced that the first lady brought mealie meal and appeals to party members to receive in peaceful and orderly manner their allocations.

14:55: Cde Sandi-Moyo said President Mugabe’s address was wise and full of counsel.

“The speech liberated many in the party.”

14:55: Bulawayo Provincial Affairs minister uMama uEunice Sandi-Moyo is now giving vote of thanks. She thanks President Mugabe for his servant leadership and also Amai Mugabe taking care of the nation.

14:50: Cde Chipanga introduces representatives of the white business community who have pledged their support for the ruling party.

14:45: President Mugabe has finished his address

14:43: President Mugabe says people are free to leave and he is not going to stand in anyone’s way adding that he is in the party because he still believes in its ideals.

14:36: “People cant bus people to boo, boo who. Actually I know where these buses came from”

14:35: “I would thank Bulawayo for the way you came here, let this be viewed as a reawakening of Bulawayo. We shall not allow the opposition to take the lead this time around. If it means we stay awake to mobilise, we shall do so.”

President calls on Bulawayo to wake up and come to the party.

“Abadala balapha. Vukani,” he says.

14:30: President Mugabe says those who claim Masvingo province belongs to someone, how did that someone get to own the area? He fought the war we fought as well. We all have a stake and cannot tolerate that. The narrow mindedness some have must be condemned and be put out of our party. We don’t want them in our party. We will kick you out, President Mugabe adds

14:26: President Mugabe has implored farmers to consider venturing into sheep and goat farming adding that most Asian countries rare these at a commercial scale

14:23:President Mugabe says after capping graduates at NUST yesterday, he was happy the institution has gone back to its mandate of teaching science and technology. However, he says he inquired as to why there isn’t engineering and was told that they have produced quite a number who are working in the industries.

“No, that is not the engineering I am talking about. We want engineers who can come up with an aircraft. We want engineers who can innovate new things.”- President Mugabe

14:21: President Mugabe calls on learning institutions to encourage the students to turn what they learn at school to practical work so as to review to the country’s development

14:20: “Let us adhere to the party’s constitution, war vets, youths and the women’s wing”

14:17: President Mugabe instructs that party cars which were meant to be delivered in the provinces are to be handed over before the end of the month.

14:14: “So to the people in Masvingo with their attitude, you can go ahead and form your party because we honestly cannot have this. We cannot be insulted on a daily basis.”

14:13: “Today when we have reached the tail end of the interface we get all this nonsense. I don’t like this.”

14:12: “If I made a mistake by appointing Mnangagwa, tell me. I will remove him now. We are not afraid of anyone. We can decide even here. I will stand in front and have him do the same, those who want to be with me join me and those who want to be with Mnangagwa go to him.”

14:11: “We cannot have what is happening in Masvingo and Midlands where we are told these provinces are not President Mugabe’s but they belong to VP Mnangagwa. I am told off daily in the name of Mnangagwa, did I make a mistake in appointing him as VP?”

14:08: “We are here in Bulawayo to make sure that what we do today will encourage people in Bulawayo to vote for the party. This is the second city to Harare and we can’t afford to be losing it. But what I did not expect, which i had a bit of information about, is that some people had sent some persons to boo the first lady. She speaks her mind. We cannot keep quiet. We know in Masvingo there are people who claim the province does not belong to President Mugabe but to Mnangagwa. The same is happening in Midlands”

14:05: President Mugabe now takes to the podium to make his address.

14:00: Cde Chipanga invites President Mugabe to give his address.

13:51: She winds her speech by saying: “Bulawayo, those with ears have heard. The stubborn ones must remain so at their own peril. We have one leader who is the centre of power.

13:50: “I want to teach the youths to be business minded and make money. I will tell you that when I was elected as the Secretary for women affairs there was just $49 in the account but now we have over $200 000 and next year we will have over $1 million in our account.”

13:47: “The constitution was changed from requiring one of the VPs to be a female when Joice Mujuru left and we put VP Mnangagwa, now we want our position back.”

13:45: First Lady Amai Mugabe says Vice President Mnangagwa is the root cause of factionalism and it’s high time he is taken to a disciplinary hearing. “I am leading the calls. So many people have been fired,” she says

13:35: “Please don’t use your positions to fight your wars. I am the First Lady I have never used my position to gain unfair advantage. I don’t care whether you boo me or you were paid to boo me but I will say it as it is even if you bring soldiers with guns I will say the same thing. Stop it whatever you are doing. There were demonstrations to fire Kasukuwere but President Mugabe saw that there was no crime. He is not going anywhere”

13:30 “If Jonathan has a crime let the courts decide that”

13:30: “I would like to talk about Prof Jonathan Moyo. It was said he has a number of crimes, President Mugabe set up a committee to investigate him, the committee had the findings and instructed Dr Chombo to write a letter to ZACC on the matter. This letter was meant to state how this money was used,”

13:27: Dr Mugabe thanks Cde Chipanga for organising the interface rallies and emphasisng that the party has one centre of power

13:25: Cde Chipanga says hands off the youth league as they only recognise President Mugabe and uMama Dr Mugabe as their leaders and ends by inviting Dr Mugabe to address the crowd

13:22: He calls for the party’s Secretary for legal Affairs Cde Patrick Chinamasa to look into the matter of amending the party’s constitution ahead of the extraordinary congress

13:20:He pays tribute to Amai Mugabe for leading by example in taking care of the needy and also incapacitating women through chicken projects in the provinces.

13:18:“Your Excellency, this is the ninth interface and the remaining province is Harare. However, we are going to have another interface with students before meeting Harare. We are working with Prof Moyo in organising that interface. We thank you for officially opening the information centre. This is a place for youths. Hardly would you find older generation at such places. We are the beneficiaries,” Cde Chipanga

13:13: “We are requesting a special interface with students with you President, we are in the process of preparing for this interface with High Education Minister, Prof Jonathan Moyo. As youths we are spreading the word encouraging people to vote, which is why we are even endorsing that message on all our party regalia.”

13:10: Cde Chipanga has been invited to make his remarks as Secretary for Youth League in the politburo. In his salutations, he submits to the leadership of President Mugabe and also the guidance of Amai Mugabe.

13:02: Youth league chair says the province is appalled by companies which import labour from other provinces to Bulawayo adding that the trend has left Bulawayo youths vulnerable and jobless.

12:58: VP Mnangagwa and uMama Mnangagwa now greeting the crowd.

12:55: VP Mphoko and uMama Mphoko now being introduced with the VP greeting the crowd gathered at White City he also thanks the crowd for welcoming the President to the province

12:49: Innocent Hamandishe Bulawayo Provincial leadership to greet the crowd and they do so by way of slogans. He also requests Ministers of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development Professor Jonathan Moyo as well as Youth to make slogans.

12:45: Zanu-PF secretary for the youth Cde Kudzanai Chipanga takes to the podium to make introductions of members of the Central Committee and Politburo

12:15: Several senior party officials who have been waiting for the resumption of official proceedings rise to welcome Vice Presidents Phelekezela Mphoko and Emmerson Mnangagwa.

12:14: Meanwhile, Zanu-PF supporters are gathered at White City stadium in Bulawayo’s Emabuthweni suburb for the Presidential Youth Interface rally. The rally is the ninth of a series of interactive between President Mugabe and members of the party’s youth wing.

President Mugabe has used the meetings to encourage unity among party members and also call for an end to factionalism.

As party supporters wait for the arrival of President Mugabe who is also Zanu-PF first secretary, various artists from the region keeps them entertained. Some of the artists entertaining the crowd here are Madlela Siikhobokhobo and Sandra Ndebele

11:59: President ends his address.

11:50: The President encourages everyone to register to vote in next year’s elections. “We don’t want to be over done by the opposition we are the party the ruling party. Let us educate our people so that they vote wisely next year.” He says

11:45: “We have set up the Cyber Security Ministry to build our own cyber systems to defend ourselves from cyber crime. Some use the internet to fight us and implement what they say is regime change. Some nations are at an advanced stage in controlling this social media, which is why we thought that Minister Chinamsa as a lawyer helps in controlling our cyber space”

11:40: “We can use these computers for many things that promote development. Some are using these computers to cause disharmony, demonstrating and destroying the infrastructure. We don’t want to emulate this because what solution does it present instead of destroying the nation.”- President Mugabe

11:35: “Let us teach the communities to use these computers but please let us be disciplined, let us not view pornography; this is not why we are setting up these computers”

11:30: “The beauty of this new technology is that it keeps us in contact. Teachers and students can now get all the solutions they want via ICT. We want people to know that we are introducing these new gadgets but we want them also to know how to use them. These gadgets open their minds and introduce them to the world out there and also information out there.”- President Mugabe

11:26: “My only sense of disappointment is that we have allowed our children merely to depend on ICTs and are neglecting their books totally”

11:25: “Our children these days are always online, they are always online. To settle problems, whether it’s Science or Maths they no longer need to go to the library they go to the internet “- President Mugabe

11:22: President Mugabe immediately interjects, ordering that the Ministry should not charge for these services and Cde Mandiwanzira invites President Mugabe to address delegates.

11:18: “The trainings are for free till the end of the year after which we will then start charging a nominal fee to recover costs” Cde Mandiwanzira

11:14: “As a Ministry we have started rolling out training facilities at all our community information centres because we do not want this to seem like a political gimmick but a means of empowering the communities”

11:10: ICT Minister Cde Supa Mandiwanzira now addressing delegates

1105: Cde Moyo ends by thanking President Mugabe for availing grain to people in the province to feed vulnerable groups. “As a party we are working very hard, we are not leaving any stone unturned ahead of the 2018 elections.”

1103: Zanu-PF Members of Parliament are working hard in the province, they have implemented a number of programmes which are assisting in empowering the youths. As you know we don’t have any councilors in Bulawayo, but our MPs have gone a long way in bringing confidence to the people in Bulawayo and I am confident that come 2018 we are going to get a number of sits in the province.

1059: Bulawayo is excited to host President Mugabe and the First Lady today. The challenges we have in the province is the closed industries, people are not employed, and they don’t have a source of income.

1056: Youth league Secretary Cde Kudzanai Chipanga addressed delegates at the official opening of the Nkulumane Community Information Centre before inviting the Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Eunice Nomthandazo Moyo to give the state of the Metropolitan Province.

1053: President Mugabe has officially opened the Nkulumane Community Information Centre. The Nkulumane Community Information Centre is part of a project funded by the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (Potraz). The authority is targeting to construct information centres in all the country’s constituencies. To date, Potraz has constructed over 80 centres at a cost of more than $900 000.