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Rutendo Nyeve and Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday News Reporters
THE Zanu-PF candidates for the National Assembly seats in Bulawayo have assured the electorate of their commitment to servant leadership that is anchored on the ruling party’s people centric ethos of transparency and wide consultation should they get elected in the Saturday by-elections.
The by-elections were triggered by the opposition CCC’s recall of nine of its National Assembly members, who had ceased to be members of the party. In an interview with Sunday News, one of the hopefuls from the ruling party Cde Dzingai Kamamba, who is vying for the Mzilikazi-Mpopoma Constituency, said he wanted to introduce the kind of servant leadership that his constituents had been starved of during the reign of the opposition.
“What we want to do is to bring servant leadership to our constituents, which is the opposite of what we see in Bulawayo where politicians get elected and start acting as the people’s boss. So, whatever we will be doing going forward in the constituency will be informed by principles of transparency and wide consultation,” he said.
Cde Kamamba said he believed that his duties went beyond the crafting of laws in the National Assembly, as he wanted to adopt a hands-on approach to bread and butter issues that affected his constituents.
“As a party, our motto is that we don’t leave anyone, any place behind and that is what I would like to prove to be true during my tenure as the MP for the constituency. I believe that as the legislature for the constituency, my duty will go beyond just harvesting resources from institutions such as District Development Fund and devolution funds. I must be able to work with businesspeople, non-governmental organisations and other influential figures in the community to spearhead development.
“Apart from my normal legislative duties in Parliament, I believe it is imperative that I should be able to spearhead developmental projects that uplift the standard of life. For example, I believe that we urgently need to repair our roads because it would improve the ease of doing business in the community because I believe a better road network is good for business,” he said.
Turning to water provision, Cde Kamamba said he believed that residents in Bulawayo had been let down by their local elected leaders, who failed to pursue alternatives that might alleviate the plight of a traditionally dry city.
“I believe we have been failed by our local elected leadership when it comes to the issue of water provision. In my term, I want to drill boreholes across the constituency to mitigate this and these water sources must serve not only as sources of water but should also see the establishment of nutritional gardens that not only benefit the vulnerable in our society like the elderly and orphaned children but our youths as well,” he said.
Cde Kamamba also said he would be fighting the scourge of drug and alcohol abuse during his tenure, should he get elected.
“From the development funds that we receive, we believe that youths should get a certain percentage and so should women. At the moment, our youths are one of the most vulnerable groups because a lot of them have turned to alcohol and drugs due to unemployment. I believe that this is the concern of every parent in the constituency and it is in everyone’s interests to address it,” he said.
Another hopeful candidate for the ruling party Cde Albert Mavunga who is vying for the Nketa constituency said his vision is to lobby and suggest in Parliament for laws and policies that will bring development to the constituency and drive Government programmes to come to all residents.
“I desire to see a number of development aspects being achieved. My vision is to see the establishment of a clinic in Emganwini with proper health services and an ambulance for each ward, build a vocational centre and state-of- the-art sports centre for our youths to get skills and training, facilitate for business loans and training for residents including vendors, provide a constituency office for residents to get assistance on empowerment opportunities. As well as to provide social services and food hampers to our residents with disabilities, the elderly, widows, orphans and vulnerable children.
We also want to see the rehabilitation of roads in Nketa for easy accessibility in the transportation of goods and services as well as lobby Government to speed up Gwayi-Shangani water pipeline which will end water problems in Bulawayo,” said Cde Mavunga.
He said he was involved in the development programmes in the constituency since 2008 through payment of school fees, provision of stationary and uniforms to orphans and vulnerable children working with churches and schools. He said he has been providing food hampers to orphans, elderly and people with disabilities as well as donating sports equipment to schools, social clubs and academies in Nketa.
Bulawayo Province will have five National Assembly by-elections. In Lobengula-Magwegwe constituency, Zanu-PF will be represented by Cde Menziwa Dube, in the Bulawayo South Constituency, the Zanu-PF candidate is Cde Raj Modi and in Cowdray Park the ruling party candidate is Cde Arthur Mujeyi.
There will be two by-elections in Matabeleland North province where Zanu-PF will be represented by Cde Phathisiwe Machangu in Lupane East and Cde Chineka Muchimba in Binga North. Another by election for the National Assembly will be held in Matabeleland South, Beitbridge West constituency where Cde Thusani Ndou will stand for Zanu-PF. There will also be by elections for a number of wards across the country as well as other constituencies.
The by-elections were necessitated by the recall of Citizens Coalition for Change candidates by the party’s interim secretary-general Mr Sengezo Tshabangu. Mr Tshabangu, disgruntled over how the party conducted its selection process for candidates in preparation for the August 23 harmonised elections, among other grievances, recalled 15 legislators of which nine were constituency holders while the other six had gone in through the proportional representation criteria. He has also recalled a total of 69 councillors from 15 local authorities. The next phase of by-elections will be held in February 2024.
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