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SENIOR Minister of State in the Office of the President, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo has called on people from the Matabeleland region to unite in order to push for development.
Cde Khaya Moyo was speaking at a Matabeleland region crisis indaba, which saw eight ministers addressing various developmental issues affecting the region. The meeting was held at Elangeni Training Centre yesterday.
Ministers present included Cdes Obert Mpofu (Transport and Infrastructure Development), Douglas Mombeshora (Lands and Rural Resettlement), Sithembiso Nyoni (Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperatives Development), Saviour Kasukuwere (Environment, Water and Climate), Kembo Mohadi (Home Affairs), Andrew Langa (Sports, Arts and Culture), Nomthandazo Eunice Moyo (Provincial Affairs in Bulawayo) and Abedinico Ncube (Provincial Affairs in Matabeleland South).
Delivering his keynote address, Cde Khaya Moyo said the region should take a cue from the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (Zim Asset) economic blueprint, which government was steadfastly implementing.
He said people from the region should always know that unity was key to everything.
“Unity, unity, unity, we must not forget that our motto as a party is unity, peace and development. What we are saying is that no development can take place if there is no unity or peace, we must respect each other and work together towards pushing this region to development.
“Yes we are facing a lot of problems in the region but we must work steadfastly in addressing some of these problems together, we are all here for development and nothing else,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
He said the fact that the seven ministers had taken time from their busy schedules to come to meet the people and say what they were doing in terms of developing the region in line with the Zim Asset document, proved their commitment to development and also spoke volumes on their patriotism.
Cde Khaya Moyo said as a senior minister he was prepared to put pressure on ministries to ensure that they hastened in implementing projects in the Matabeleland region.
“I am sure most of you are surprised to see all these ministers coming to address issues to do with Matabeleland. I must assure you that this is not the last time, next time I am coming with those who did not come because we want them to be accountable and tell us what they are doing,” he said.
The Senior Minister said he appreciated that the problems faced in the region were mostly relative but said there were some that were particular to each region.
He, however, noted that as a party they had already pushed for the resolution of these problems and what was needed was for policies to be implemented.
“If you all remember during the 14th Annual National People’s Conference in Chinhoyi last year, we made it clear that the issue of closing industries especially in Bulawayo should be addressed through the establishment of Special Economic Zones (SEZ). We made it clear that Bulawayo should be turned into a textile industries Special Economic Zone. It is therefore quite surprising that there has been no progress in this initiative.
“What most of us here forget is that the Government is a product of the party. Yes we might be Senior Ministers but we are still answerable to the party therefore such resolutions must be addressed as a matter of urgency. We must put pride aside and move according to the resolutions we made back then because right now we could not be talking of the same problems,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
Meanwhile, the Senior Minister, who is also the Zanu PF national chairman said preparations for national elections in 2018 were now starting and the party was confident of sweeping all seats in the Matabeleland region.
He said it was now time for all party members to also start working and have that in mind and not to allow any seat to be lost to opposition parties.
“Come 2018 all seats in the Matabeleland region will be in the Zanu PF bag, we are not losing anything and this onus is on all of us, we have to start working today, we have to strengthen our party.
“What I must emphasise is that let us respect each other from the cells right up to the senior leadership. Without respect we are certainly not going anywhere,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
The Senior Minister revealed that while they initially aimed to have more than 10 ministers attending, some had sent in apologies but they would also be slotted in at a later date.
Some of the ministers who were set to attend are Finance Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa, Mines and Mining Development Minister, Cde Walter Chidhakwa, Energy Minister Cde Dzikamai Mavhaire and Youth Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Cde Francis Nhema.
Online Reporter