Chronicle Editor
Ranga Mataire
Group Political Editor
FOURTY-THREE years after independence, the rural-urban voter dichotomy is still a critical election ingredient in Zimbabwe, which political parties can ignore at their own peril.
This dichotomy bears its genesis in the liberation struggle where much of the rural space became the battleground of liberation forces against Rhodesian military forces.
Ironically, while many nationalists were products of urban settlements, their tentacles were much widespread in rural communities where much of the mobilisation of the masses took place.
The rural folk bore much of the brunt of the liberation war. Many of the young people who left to join liberation forces in neighbouring countries of Mozambique, Zambia and Botswana came from these rural communities.
Fast-forward to 2023, a lot has indeed changed in the demographics of the urban and rural population.
Even the rural landscape outlook has changed, with a lot of families moving onto resettlement farms. However, this movement has not fundamentally changed the demographic pattern that existed before independence.
According to the 2022 ZimStats National Population and Housing Census, 61.4 percent of Zimbabweans still reside in rural areas while 38.6 percent reside in urban areas. This is a critical ingredient for political strategists whose messages must be tailor-made to meet the expectations of specific voters in specific locations.
Although Zanu-PF has made fundamental inroads in traditional opposition strongholds in urban areas, the party has proven in successive elections that it enjoys the support of the majority Zimbabweans who reside in rural areas.
But this rural voter affinity to Zanu-PF is not a coincident or an oddity of nature. It has its genesis in the struggle for independence, in which ZIPRA and ZANLA forces that later joined to form Zanu-PF, enjoyed massive goodwill and support from the rural populace.
Indeed, the liberation war would not have been efficiently executed had it not been for the support of the Zimbabwean masses who provided sanctuary, food, intelligence and material support to freedom fighters.
The historical bond of Zanu-PF and the rural populace has been made stronger in the post-liberation era due to various policy interventions that have been implemented in rural areas to improve people’s livelihoods.
One of the most enduring policy interventions implemented by Zanu-PF was the land reform programme that resulted in more than 300 000 households being empowerment through ownership of land. Land resettlement was divided into A1 for small scale farmers and A2 for large commercial farmers.
While some in the opposition would want to dismiss the land redistribution exercise as a failure, recent statistics coming out from the agriculture sector prove otherwise. The wheat surplus experienced in the last season including record tobacco deliveries testify to a thriving agriculture sector that has seen people’s lives being transformed.
All this has come to fruition due to the support from the Government and private financial institutions. Financial institutions that were previously reluctant to fund agriculture, have recently come on board with contract funding and the results have been phenomenal.
Construction of dams, rehabilitation of irrigation facilities, the agriculture mechanisation programme and the Pfumvudza programme have all contributed in making agriculture one of the most beautiful developmental stories to come out of post-independence Zimbabwe.
But that’s not all. One of the perennial issues that for years had hindered effective rural development was the poor state of roads. Realising the need for quick movement of people, goods and services within and beyond rural communities, the Government embarked on a massive reconstruction and rehabilitation of major roads networks.
The Government declared the country’s road network a state of disaster, and has since embarked on a national road reconstruction blitz that has seen many of the country’s roads being upgraded or rehabilitated.
Reconstruction works are being conducted mostly using localised resources and are being undertaken by local contractors. This has created a lot of employment for the rural populace especially those located along highways.
Ask any ordinary folk, they are quick to physically show you something the Government has done in the past five years. Provision of water for domestic use and irrigation purposes is a key government priority in rural areas and this has resulted in as many dams being completed.
Dam construction is a big-ticket promise from the Zanu-PF and true to their word has fulfilled most of the promises on dam construction while others are in various state of completion.
In 2021, the Government announced that it had set aside ZW$10 billion for the development of 10 major dam projects as part of long term plans to support smallholder agricultural irrigation, boost food security and agricultural production and to harness water for industrial and domestic use in major towns, cities and growth points.
For rural folks, dam construction is a key driver of various economic activities and augurs well in climate-proofing and reducing heavy reliance on rain-fed farming. Some of the dams that have been completed or are almost complete include the Lake Gwayi-Shangani, which was allocated US$600 million in 2004, US$20 million in 2017 for initial works and as of May 2020 — US$122 million had been used under the Public Sector Investment Programme. The lake is Matabeleland North Province (confluence of Gwayi/Shangani rivers. The lake is almost complete.
Another dam is Semwa Dam in Mt Darwin across Ruya River and the projected use is irrigation, small hydro power plant and water supply to Rushinga and Chimhanda. According to Zinwa the dam is 95 percent complete.
Other dams in the same province are Silverstroom Dam in Centenary whose cost is US$171 million, Bindura Dam in Bindura District and Dande Dam in Guruve.
More dams completed so far are Vungu Dam in Zibagwe, Midlands, Ziminya Dam (Shangani River) in Nkayi District, Matabeleland North Province and Tuli-Manyange Dam in Gwanda District, Matabeleland South Province.
Just a few days ago, President Mnangagwa commissioned Chivhu Dam in the Chikomba District of Mashonaland East Province. It has the capacity of 26 million cubic metres and is projected to supply water to Chivhu town and surrounding rural areas.
There is no record in recent memory in the Sadc region where so much infrastructural projects have been initiated and completed in such record time like what has happened in Zimbabwe.
Apart from dams, over 700 villages have benefited across the country from boreholes drilled by the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) under the Presidential Borehole Drilling Programme. Under the programme, Zinwa is set to drill and equip a borehole for each of the country’s 35 000 villages by 2025. Each village is geared to have a nutrition garden with a wide range of fruit trees.
The Government is also drilling boreholes for schools while each ward will have additional two boreholes for youth horticulture projects. The scheme was launched by President Mnangagwa in December 2022 at Sekusile in Jinjika Village, Mangwe District in Matabeleland South Province.
All in all, the programme is benefiting over 1,8 million households as the Second Republic accelerates efforts to alleviate poverty among rural communities in line with the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
The scheme has created employment for women and youths thereby improving livelihoods as outlined in the Agriculture and Food Systems Transformation Strategy whose national thrust is to see Zimbabwe achieve a US$8,2 billion agriculture economy by 2025.
In all earnest, it is an uphill task for the opposition to disentangle the solid bond that Zanu-PF as the governing party has with rural communities. The deliverables are there for everyone to see and any election is simply an endorsement of that trust that exist between Zanu-PF and the majority of people who reside in rural areas.
Online Reporter