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Cde Khaya Moyo

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF legislators that were recently elected to Parliament in the just ended harmonised elections have welcomed the introduction of performance appraisals by the party’s leadership saying this will enhance service delivery to the people and ensure the revolutionary party is not caught unawares in the next polls scheduled for 2018.
Zanu-PF National Chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo on Monday said in an interview that the party’s Presidium had adopted the idea for MPs to write quarterly reports on progress being made in their constituencies as a way of ensuring that the party fulfils promises it made to the electorate. Elected National Assembly representative for Makoni West Cde Kudzai Chipanga welcomed the new development saying it would ensure that legislators remained in touch with the electorate unlike before.

“This is a positive development and I personally support it. This will ensure that there is accountability and also that people work in their respective constituencies.

“In the past, we used to have people disappearing soon after elections and only to resurface towards elections. The danger is that people do not vote for individuals but for the party so when you do not work they will not only deal with you as an individual but also with the party.
“So the directive by the Presidium through the National Chairman will ensure that people remain in touch with the electorate and ensure that we also reclaim the remaining seats that the MDC-T won come 2018,” he said.

Incoming representative for Harare South Cde Tongesai Mudambo echoed similar sentiments adding the move would also make campaigning for the 2018 elections easier.

“I think the party’s leadership has come up with a visionary strategy that will also ensure that whatever mistakes you might be making they will be corrected early before the next elections.

“This will make it easy to campaign for the next elections because if one follows the directive it means they will always be in touch with the electorate,” Cde Mudambo said.

Mazowe Central’s Cde Tabetha Kanengoni said the move would deal with truant MPs.
“This will make sure that no one takes the electorate for granted. People will have to work and deliver the promises that were made to the constituencies. We do not want to go back to the situation we had in 2008,” she said.

Mt Pleasant’s Jaison Passade said it was important that all MPs delivered promises made before the next elections.
“We should all ensure that what we promised is delivered so that we have a clean sweep of seats in 2018.

“This can only be achieved if people are accountable both to the electorate and the party so the move to have people submitting reports of their work is welcome. People have so much expectations and it is time that all of us even those that lost continue working with the grassroots so that we deal decisively with the MDC formations in 2018,” Cde Passade said.

Cde Khaya Moyo said the appraisal system was necessary to safeguard the gains made by Zanu-PF and retain the confidence that was bestowed on the party and its leader President Mugabe by the electorate.

Mutoko North representative elect Cde Mabel Chinomona said it was important that legislators returned to the people that elected them into office to prevent other political parties from making inroads in the constituencies.

“If people do not go back to the electorate, we risk creating vacuums that will be filled by the other political parties. So people should always work with their communities,” she said.

Zanu-PF whitewashed the MDC-T in the election with the revolutionary party swooping 160 seats compared to the MDC-T’s 49 seats out of the 210 contested seats, giving it the more than two thirds majority threshold.