adminCletus Mushanawani News Editor
EVERYONE believed that 2013 was the year for the Benza Brothers to shine as they entered the political fray with a bang. The brothers, Innocent and Gerald are inseparable and when the former announced his candidature for the Mutasa Central city on a Zanu-PF ticket, many people gave MDC-T candidate, Trevor Saruwaka, the faintest sniffs on winning the right to represent the people of the constituency.
The ‘Mutasa Twins’ had moved mountains in their campaign with developmental work being evident for everyone to see, but a number of factors among them the in-house fighting in Zanu-PF saw the seat being among the four the MDC-T won in Manicaland. With everyone expecting the twins to completely turn their backs on the constituency which is also their home area, they are back with a bang and they have declared that there is no going back in their quest to wrestle the seat from MDC-T and return it to where it rightfully belong, that is in Zanu-PF. The Manica Post recently caught up with the twins at St James Zongoro in Mutasa where they had played a leading role in organising celebrations to mark the re-appointment of Cde Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri into the Politburo and Cabinet and they opened up on what the future holds for Mutasa Constituency, which has suffered years of stunt growth, for the past 10 years.
To announce their return to the political limelight, the Benza brothers virtually bankrolled the February 1 celebrations as they contributed five beasts that were slaughtered to feed invited guests and the gathering of more than 3 000 people. They also availed 8 000 litres of beer, virtually leaving villagers swimming in the wise waters. They also provided transport as well as entertainment in the form of celebrated ZORA music proponent, Leonard ‘Karikoga’ Zhakata whose irresistible music saw the likes of Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri, Mandi Chimene, Kenneth Saruchera and Letina Undenge to name, but a few showcasing their nimble-footedness on the dance-floor.
They increased the celebrations’ tempo by handing over $3 000 as a gift to Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri as well as calendars to almost everyone present for the big day that brought the usually serene Zongoro area to a standstill.
In an interview on the sidelines of the celebrations, Cde Gerald Benza, said they were back in Mutasa Central for good.
“Yes, my brother contested and lost in the 2013 harmonised elections and many people thought that was the last time to see us in Mutasa Central, but alas they were mistaken. We cannot turn our backs on our home area and kinsmen.
“We have this constituency at heart and we are revisiting all our programmes that we had put in place prior to the 2013 harmonised elections. A lot of factors among them divisions in our party Zanu-PF contributed to our loss to MDC-T in Mutasa Central. As we were new entrants in the political game, we were not aware of some of the political dynamics in the party as some people went a gear up to decampaign us and we lost the election. Now we have seen the light following the booting out of some people with the pull him down syndrome and we are having a breadth of fresh air. We want to thank the First Lady, Amai Dr Grace Mugabe and her team which include Cde Muchinguri-Kashiri for weeding out all rotten elements in the party. We are back working with the people and we will deliver on every project and promise we made,” said Cde Gerald Benza.
He said they had lined up, short, medium and long term projects for the people of Mutasa Central.
“On the short term projects, we are targetting creating employment for between 800 to 1 000 youths. As you are aware that Mutasa has a lot of timber plantations, we have acquired harvesting equipment and we will be going into partnership with plantations owners to employer youths as harvesters. We all have a role to play to reduce unemployment levels in the country,” he said.
Cde Benza said they would be revisiting the road rehabilitation programmes and improve communication links.
“We had embarked on a number of road rehabilitation programmes prior to the 2013 elections, but our efforts were being frustrated by a few individuals who were against us. We will bring back the equipment we had availed the last time so that we can continue from where we left. We want to have almost all the areas accessible.
“We could not continue keeping the road maintenance equipment in the constituency because as you are aware it is very expensive to do so, but very soon people should expect to see things moving. We are men of our words and we cannot let down the leadership of this area. We will work with every development orientated people in this area because Mutasa Central has a lot to offer to this country,” he said.
On the issue of availing transport in the constituency, Cde Benza, said: “A good road network will see every transporter availing transport to the locals and we will revisit that area as soon there is improved road network. The moment our roads become perfect, nothing will stop us from availing our buses. We know the transport challenges facing some parts of this constituency and we will surely address that. We want our elderly members of the community to enjoy the free rides they were used to when our buses were servicing this area.”
Cde Benza said they also wanted to improve the health delivery system in Mutasa area.
“People in this constituency are still enduring long distances to access medical facilities and this is one area we will work hard on to address. Health facilities should be accessible to everyone at the shortest distance and we do not want a situation where people die in homes after failing to travel the long distance to the nearest health facility to access medical care. Like what I said before, we are back to stay in Mutasa Central and we will increase our visibility because we cannot let the enemy have a free reign here,” said Cde Benza.
Online Reporter