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Chipinge has gone to MDC-T: Semwayo

Politics
ZANU Ndonga chairman Reketayi Semwayo will contest the Chipinge Central constituency with the backing of the MDC-T after he put his signature to the Coalition for Change.

ZANU Ndonga chairman Reketayi Semwayo will contest the Chipinge Central constituency with the backing of the MDC-T  after he put his signature to the Coalition for Change, a pact between the MDC-T, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) and his party to support MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s presidential candidature.

Semwayo said he is eyeing the post of provincial council chairperson for Manicaland if the coalition wins the elections because he feels an urge to fight corruption at Marange diamond fields and to get the Chisumbanje ethanol project to take off.

The following are excerpts of an interview yesterday between NewsDay Senior Parliamentary Reporter Veneranda Langa (ND) and Semwayo (RS) on his quest to get to Parliament.

ND:  Who is Semwayo and can you give a brief history of your political career? RS:  I joined Zanu Ndonga when I was still at school in Chipinge doing Form 4 in 1987.  Then I was in the party youth wing and I rose through the ranks to be in the provincial committee.  Later I came to Harare where I was elevated to work in the office of the president of Zanu Ndonga Ndabaningi Sithole as his personal aide for more than five years.

I got into the national executive and then became spokesperson of the party in 2002 when Wilson Khumbula became party president after the death of Sithole.

Khumbula then left the party to join MKD leaving the party in the hands of myself and others.  We set up a working committee where I became chairman of the party pending congress.

Since then, we have not held congress and I am still chairman pending congress.  I am now contesting the Chipinge Central seat under an MDC-T ticket since we signed a pact to work together.

Before that, I contested the Warren Park seat under Zanu Ndonga, but was beaten by MDC-T candidate Elias Mudzuri.

ND:  Why did you decide to support Tsvangirai for the presidency? RS:  We do not want to miss the opportunity and be defeated by Zanu PF through splitting of votes.  We want to ensure we win the presidential, council and parliamentary maximum votes.

I have confidence in myself, but this time I thought let us put our resources and energies together and support Tsvangirai because in the past we have had presidential aspirants like Sithole who tried to oust President Robert Mugabe, but it never succeeded.  This time we do not want to give Mugabe a chance.

I have 100% confidence in Tsvangirai.  I have worked with him and I understand him much better now.  As Prime Minister, he has proved to be a capable leader who can deliver.

ND:  What do you promise the people of Chipinge Central? RS:  We want to help (together with the MDC-T) improve roads in Chipinge and provide clean water and electricity.  We also want to ensure there is establishment of industries in Chipinge because a lot of fruits like bananas, oranges and avocados and also such crops as sweet potatoes and tomatoes are abundant in this region, but they rot because there is no industry to process  and market them.

Another good example is the tea that is grown in Chipinge,  but processed in Harare.  We want to ensure there is industry to do everything in Chipinge.

ND:  What did the previous MP Alice Chitima (Zanu PF) fail to do? RS:  The roads are bad and there is no clean water and electricity.  It is not really her job to do that, but she could have represented the people of Chipinge’s grievances to government and Parliament as MP.

ND:  Are you expecting a bigger post if the coalition wins elections? RS:  Yes, preferably I want to be Resident Minister for Manicaland (provincial council chairperson).  I want to concentrate my energy on the province which is endowed with diamonds and ethanol.  I want to ensure things are done properly and end corruption in the diamond industry.  I want to bring order in the province, especially the ethanol project at Chisumbanje.

ND:  Has Zanu Ndonga fielded other candidates for Parliament or council? RS:  No, I am the only candidate fielded in Chipinge Central.  We want to concentrate on campaigning for Tsvangirai as President.  We do not want to split votes.

ND:  What do you say are qualities of a legislator? RS:  One has to be honest, transparent and have an ear for the opinions of the people so that he is able to articulate them in Parliament.  The attribute of being articulate is also important and I am very confident I can deliver.  That is why I am chairman of the party.

ND:  Do you see any threats from other candidates you will be contesting against? RS:  I am not afraid of any of the candidates and I am confident with the support I will get from the MDC-T.

ND:  Who is financing your campaign and have you covered significant ground so far? RS:  I am actually on my way to Chipinge now.  The MDC-T has started helping me in my campaign. Things like posters and party T-shirts have been well distributed.  I have spoken to MDC-T organising secretary Nelson Chamisa and he says Tsvangirai or Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe would visit Chipinge to boost my campaign.  The MDC-T will be responsible for financing my campaign and I am also sourcing funds to finance it.

ND:  Are you confident the elections will be free and fair even though there may not be reforms? RS:  We are still pushing for the reforms and we will do so until voting day.  We hope Zanu PF will realise the need for free and fair elections.  The reforms are necessary, but we are confident of winning even without them because people want change and they will definitely vote Zanu PF out.