CHINHOYI — Aspiring Zanu PF Magunje legislator Godfrey Gandawa has taken a swipe at fellow Zanu PF politicians who continue to persecute teachers and label them MDC-T supporters.
Report by Own Correspondent
Gandawa said his party lost most seats in the 2008 harmonised election because of its imposition of uneducated and unmarketable candidates.
The aspiring Zanu PF MP last Friday took electioneering a notch up by gathering teachers and headmasters from Magunje constituency for an information communications technology “mass lecture” at Magunje growth point where he also preached the need to vote for educated legislators.
Gandawa lamented the “poor”calibre of legislators who made up the Seventh Parliament whose term expires on June 29.
The aspiring lawmaker, who hails from the area, also castigated fellow Zanu PF politicians who have failed to pursue further education, saying this has resulted in under-development of some constituencies.
“The problem that we have in this country is that we vote for uneducated parliamentarians who fail to steer development projects to uplift the livelihoods of people who voted them into power. Therefore, I have assembled teachers and headmasters because they are the elite and learned people in our communities whom I would want to appeal to vote for Zanu PF president Robert Mugabe and myself in the upcoming elections. Every vote counts, tell people that you need to vote for us.
“Teachers have been branded as belonging to a certain party, but I, as an educated person, knows the political dynamics are different this time round.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“Vote for educated candidates, those people who are worthy of being lawmakers who would be able to bring development to their area.
“Personally, I have built and refurbished schools here in my home area with my own resources because it has been marginalised and it is guaranteed that if voted into office, I can do more with the help of government. Why would you vote for illiterate Grade 2 dropouts?” said Gandawa, adding Zanu PF lost the 2008 polls due to the imposition of candidates who were not marketable to the electorate.
The affable Gandawa (40) would have to wrest the right to represent Zanu PF in the constituency against nine other candidates vying for the legislative seat, among them incumbent Magunje MP Franco Ndambakuwa and businessman Keith Guzah, who is also Affirmative Action Group president.
Gandawa is the front-runner to win the Zanu PF primaries hedging his support on the various developmental projects he has undertaken through his Gandawa Development Foundation which has built classroom blocks, clinics and initiated income-generating projects for women such as bakeries and piggeries in the constituency.
The aspiring lawmaker’s remarks on uneducated MPs were also a direct attack on Hurungwe East MP Sarah Mahoka, who recently stunned the court after she admitted being unable to read and write as she was a Grade 2 school dropout.
Mahoka, who is also Zanu PF Mashonaland West Women’s League chairperson, made the startling revelation while giving evidence during the ongoing trial of politician-cum-businessman Temba Mliswa and nine other accused persons charged with public violence, which opened at the Chinhoyi Magistrates’ Courts recently.
