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Joseph Madzimure-Senior Reporter

THE major development projects championed by the Second Republic led under President Mnangagwa have endeared the ruling Zanu PF party to the masses, positioning it way ahead of the opposition in terms of the election campaign, the party is finding.

The party has already begun a roll out mobilisation strategy and voter registration of its members ahead of this year’s election, targeting to mobilise five million votes for the President.

In line with the country’s constitution, Zimbabwe is set to hold harmonised elections this year to choose a President, parliamentarians and councillors who will drive the country for the next five years.

Since coming to power in 2017, President Mnangagwa has led from the front to ensure the revolutionary party delivers on its election promises.

Guided by the National Development Strategy 1, which builds momentum towards the attainment of an upper middle-income economy by 2030, the Second Republic has championed an inclusive development agenda, which has seen numerous transformative projects being rolled out across the country.

These are largely pronounced in major infrastructure development cutting across sectors, enhanced ease of doing business through fiscal and monetary reforms, technology and innovation absorption, agriculture revolution, skills development and improved public service delivery, among others.

Speaking at a press briefing in Harare yesterday, Zanu PF Secretary for Information and Publicity Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa said the party had put its systems in place to ensure President Mnangagwa won by 75 percent.

 He urged the party structures to intensify their campaign for President Mnangagwa to ensure a resounding victory.

“Right now we only have the candidature of the President,” he said. “There are no other candidates which we are campaigning for. The focus is on the promotion of the President as the candidate.

The party is working on the road map for primary elections to elect prospective candidates for constituencies and wards who can win public support to present a full slate of candidates.

“Eventually, primary elections will come, that’s when shot guns will be fired for internal party congregation to select the candidates who will be coming,” said Cde Mutsvangwa. “It will be done in an open and democratic manner within the party. We are going to follow the voter register in terms of aligning our candidates to the ZEC ambit. 

“So, we are taking our internal elections as a dress rehearsal of the coming elections this year. This is why we are on a voter registration drive and voter audit drive to make sure that every possible voter is included.” 

As Zimbabwe barrels towards this year’s harmonised elections, Cde Mutsvangwa said Zanu PF will be firing from all cylinders to win elections in urban areas and increasing its leads in rural constituencies, which spells doom for the crisis-riddled opposition.

“We are confident that the rural areas will push us through,” he said. “We are very much involved in the cell verifications. We will keep our rural strongholds and increasing our votes there, but we shall bring in chunks of the urban vote from the CCC, so we expect that the margin of winning for our President this time will be much wider than in the last election. 

“Somebody (referring to CCC leader Nelson Chamisa) is saying Zanu PF is scared of elections, but we are going through all the processes of showing that we are ready for elections, while the CCC is clandestinely plotting who will be its candidates, what will be his manifesto, not in the open, like a secret society, like a mafia.” 

Cde Mutsvangwa said the revolutionary party believed in openness, when it came to elections.

“We don’t define what the party is doing from some oracle,” he said. “Ours is an open field, we go to the Harare International Conference Centre for conferences and congresses, you see Zanu PF in full democratic jive openly. That doesn’t happen with the other political parties, yet they complain that we are being constrained by Zanu PF. 

“Can we stop the CCC from holding a congress? Why? They are afraid of splitting again. They have run out of the alphabets (to name their parties).” 

Cde Mutsvangwa hailed the visit by Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, who was in Zimbabwe to further diplomatic ties as the Second Republic’s engagement-reengagement mantra is bearing fruit.

“The Belarus has done very well in agricultural mechanisation,” he said. “They are also victims of sanctions. We have not had a chance to modernise our agriculture since sanctions were imposed on us. Belarus has filled in the gap on the supply of tractors. We had a bumper harvest. His Excellency of Belarus’ visit made sure that we get more agricultural equipment.” 

Cde Mutsvangwa hailed the African National Congress party of South Africa for holding a successful congress.

The press conference was also attended by his deputy Cde Chido Sanyatwe, who thanked President Mnangagwa for deploying her to the Politburo.

“It is my hope that our department will have a fantastic working relationship as we move towards the election,” she said. “I extend gratitude to His Excellency President Mnangagwa for my deployment.”