LIVE BLOG: ZANU PF 2023 ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN LAUNCH – CHIPINGE, MANICALAND

We are at Mutema Secondary School here in Mutema-Musikavanhu Constituency under Chipinge District, where we will give you LIVE UPDATES of ZANU PF’s national campaign launch. This will set the stage for the ruling party’s vigorous grassroots mobilisation as it guns for a landslide victory in the harmonised elections slated for August 23 . . .

07:03:- Huge crowds are already gathered at the venue. Scores of people started trickling in as early as 6 am

07:49:- President Mnangagwa is this morning expected in Checheche where he will officially hand over an ambulance and an assortment of medical equipment at St Peter’s Checheche Catholic Mission Hospital before proceeding to Mutema Secondary School in Chipinge District for the hugely anticipated launch of the revolutionary Zanu PF election manifesto

08:24:- Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, who is also Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba, greets Chief Musikavanhu at St Peter’s Mission Hospital

09:37:- Chief Vusani Musikavanhu chats with Manicaland Secretary for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Mr Edgar’s Seenza while waiting to receive a new state of the art wheelchair from President Emerson Mnangagwa upon his arrival at St Peter’s Mission Hospital

10:12:- Scores of ZANU PF supporters from the country’s 10 provinces have thronged the venue for the highly subscribed event

11:07:- President Mnangagwa has arrived here at St Peter’s Checheche Catholic Mission Hospital in Chipinge District for the hand over of an ambulance and medical equipment. The President is accompanied by Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga and senior Government officials.

The donation is expected to give the hospital a huge lift as it strives to meet its mandate in a catchment area of about 20 000 people

11:41:- President Mnangagwa has handed over an ambulance and medical equipment that includes 24 hospital beds, four delivery beds, one anesthetic machine, five oxygen concentrators, four patient monitors, ten humidifiers, four drip stands and two boxes of nasal oxygen cannula to St Peter’s Mission Hospital

11:53:- President Mnangagwa also handed over a automated wheelchair to Chief Musikavanhu

12:21:- President Mnangagwa is also set to launch a number of Presidential schemes in Chipangai. These include goats, poultry, inputs, nutritious gardens and boreholes in line with the rural industrialisation agenda

13:01:- ZANU PF First Secretary and President Cde Mnangagwa has arrived at Mutema Secondary School in Mutema-Musikavanhu Constituency under Chipinge District for the ruling party’s national campaign launch

13:33:- Colour and vibrancy at the ruling ZANU PF party’s national campaign launch at Mutema Secondary School in Mutema-Musikavanhu Constituency, Chipinge District District in Manicaland Province

14:59:- The ZANU PF national campaign launch attracted people from all walks of life

15:33:- In his address during the ZANU PF national campaign launch in Chipinge, President Mnangagwa said the ruling party is the only one that can protect Zimbabwe’s independence and sovereignty

The party, he added, belongs to the masses and not individuals or leaders

President Mnangagwa said Manicaland Province produced many revolutionaries during the country’s liberation struggle like Chief Rekayi Tangwena, Cde Herbert Chitepo and Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and the Second Republic has honoured them

The democracy and one-man-one-vote that the country now enjoys today came as a result of the supreme sacrifices of the sons and daughters of the soil

As such, ZANU PF will never return the land to the erstwhile colonialists and neo-imperialists

15:39:- The President said the Second Republic has fulfilled many of its promises by solving the fuel crisis and electricity shortages

After Hwange Units 7 and 8, the Second Republic is building more power stations and this has resulted in load shedding being a thing of the past

The Second Republic’s main priority is to bust sanctions through producing enough for ourselves as a country

This is being done through various initiatives like Pfumvudza, aimed at ensuring the country attains food and nutrition security

15:50:- President Mnangagwa said in a short period of time the country has grown the agriculture sector from a $3,8 billion industry to $8 billion

The Second Republic has also transformed mining from $3,7 billion to over $12 billion using locally available resources

As Zimbabweans, we must change our mind set and starting producing locally, the President said. We should not rely on imports but be innovative to manufacture and produce good locally, he added

President Mnangagwa said the youth must shun drug and substance abuse as they are the future leaders

He called on the electorate to vote the opposition out of urban councils in the forthcoming harmonised elections as they are running down cities and towns

The President urged the ruling party’s candidates, including those that lost in the primary elections, to remain united and work for ZANU PF’s resounding victory in the polls

President Mnangagwa reiterated that peace and harmony must always be upheld before and during the harmonised elections to ensure violence-free polls in emulation of ZANU PF which is a peaceful party

16:03:- President Mnangagwa has finished his address and ZANU PF Second Secretary Cde Kembo Mohadi is now giving the vote of thanks remarks