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Battle for Mutasa South: What contestants say

Politics
FOUR candidates are vying for the Mutasa South parliamentary seat.

FOUR candidates are vying for the Mutasa South parliamentary seat. They are Misheck Kagurabadza (MDC-T), Godfery Munyamana (MDC), Irene Zindi (Zanu PF) and independent candidate Regai Tsunga, a former MDC-T member who was disqualified from running in the party primaries.

OBEY MANAYITI

The constituency covers Chikanga, Mutare Urban and part of rural Mutasa. NewsDay reporter (ND) Obey Manayiti tracked down three of the candidates and got them to air their views on how they plan to serve the constituency once elected into office come July 31 this year. Efforts to interview Munyamana were in vain since Monday.

Below are excerpts of the interviews with Kagurabadza (MK), Zindi (IZ) and Tsunga (RT).

ND: You have been MP for Mutasa South for the past five years. What should the electorate expect from you? MK: I would like to continue and finish the projects that I have started. There are a lot of projects we wanted to do, but because of the acrimonious GNU it was difficult for our party to get things done because of the bickering caused by the retrogressive Zanu PF party.

ND: Can you highlight some of the projects you are talking about? MK: We will be looking at health facilities. We need more clinics and women must receive free treatment during childbirth because our party considers that a national duty. Equally, people living with HIV should also get the same treatment because this is a worldwide scourge and it is the duty of government to look after those living with the virus. On education, I will push for free primary education and parents will only be required to pay school fees at secondary school level. There should be grants too for those in institutions of higher learning. Schools should be helped directly by government in terms of material issues. In Mutare companies have closed down and my primary objective is to ensure that they reopen so that people get jobs. We will be riding on the MDC’s JUICE programme to create jobs for the people of Mutasa South. Timber-producing companies also need support from government and I will be expecting to create more jobs. For example, if we set up a newsprint industry in this constituency, there will be no need to keep on importing newsprint from South Africa. I will also facilitate markets for farm produce in my constituency.

ND: How did you spend your Constituency Development Fund (CDF) allocation? MK: We bought desks and chairs for schools. We also bought building materials which were supplied to Muchena, Nyakatsapa and Sheba primary schools. We are now completing a toilet at Chikanga business centre.

ND: There are allegations that you were imposed to represent MDC-T, how do you respond to that? MK: That is what I refer to as a small truth in a big lie. The MDC-T believes in democracy and if there is anyone with queries they should ask our national headquarters.

ND: Do you see yourself winning these elections based on your past performance? MK: I am as sure as day follows night that MDC-T is going to win this election and I am part of that party. For those who are in doubt, I advise them to join the winning band.

Irene Zindi ND: What should the people of Mutasa South expect from you in the event that you win this seat? IZ: I am promising them good leadership. I am already a tried and tested cadre because I am a former MP for Hatcliffe in Harare. It was a difficult constituency because it covered half-rural and half-urban.

In that constituency I legalised Epworth residential area. I am expecting to do the same here by encouraging SMEs which have become the major employer in the face of collapsing industries. In terms of agriculture, I undertook the initiative in bringing tobacco farming to Mutasa South which has basically changed the lives and attitudes of people. We are also in the process of setting up a flea market of all agricultural produce at Premier Police Base.

ND: So are you basing your campaign on agriculture? IZ: The nature of my constituency is comprised of both rural and urban areas. In rural areas yes and in urban I will focus on service delivery, employment creation through SMEs like flea markets and car washes.

ND: What are your strengths? IZ: I am a very good facilitator, listener and I can only know of the people’s needs if I listen to them and then facilitate.

ND: What inspired you to vie for this seat? IZ: I have always been involved in active politics. This is my personal conviction that I should answer to the call of helping my people. I realised that it is important to work within my people in my homeland.

ND: From your assessment, what are your chances of winning? IZ: I am very positive. I will wrestle this seat from Kagurabadza who has done virtually nothing visible besides getting the CDF. This is taxpayers’ money and people should demand to know how it was spent. I am promising them transparency.

Regai Tsunga ND: You filed to stand as an independent candidate and the electorate might want to know who is Regai Tsunga. RT: Regai Tsunga was born 48 years ago and currently is the director of a local private voluntary organisation. I am a former teacher and headmaster for 17 years. I was once an inspector in the Public Service Commission under the Performance Audit and Inspectorate Agency and at one point I was chair of the National Association of Primary School Heads for Manicaland Province. I am a holder of two Master’s Degrees and various certificates.

ND: What should the people of Mutasa South expect from you? RT: By and large, people of Mutasa need an MP who listens and acts on their concerns. It is not for outsiders to tell people of Mutasa South what their needs are because it is them who know what they want and the MP should act as a facilitator. They should expect improved service delivery, reduced poverty and an improvement in the provision of social services.

ND: What motivated you to stand as an independent candidate? RT: I was approached by the people of Mutasa South from where I come and so I heeded that call. As someone who works in the development sector already, it was not difficult for me to accept this request because I had considerable experience working with and through them to achieve goals. This is an opportunity to put into practice what I learnt to do over the years.

ND: In Zimbabwe, history has it that chances are slim for independent candidates to win elections, why didn’t you join a political party? RT: For the record, I did submit my name for consideration as MP with the MDC-T. Unfortunately because of some reasons not too clear to me, I never had the opportunity to contest a primary election as was the standard practice in most constituencies.

So the party structures in Mutasa South constituency and the electorate persuaded me to stand as an independent for the simple reason that they were not satisfied with the outgoing MP (Kagurabadza).

ND: Is there anything you hope to achieve that was not done by Kagurabadza? RT: We hope to achieve a lot with the people of Mutasa South. There are unique and interesting demographic characteristics in this constituency. There is a high-density area, low-density area, A1 and A2 farmers, communal area, mines and estates. There are also four institutions of higher learning in Mutasa South.

The former MP failed to adequately deal with all these and God willing, I will prevail. Our politics is now mature and people will look at the characteristics of the candidates. It will be easier for me to work with anyone who forms the next government.