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Victor Maphosa in Mutoko
ZANU-PF Mashonaland East Provincial chairman Cde Joel Biggie Matiza has called on party members and supporters to unite and support their candidate ahead of the Mutoko North constituency by-elections scheduled for November 24.

Cde Matiza, who is also the Minister for Transport and Infrastructural Development, made the call during an interface with the Mutoko district war collaborators at the ZANU-PF district offices in Mutoko on Tuesday.

Before his address, Cde Matiza took a moment to listen to challenges faced by war collaborators in the district, which centred primarily on their welfare.

Among the challenges highlighted by the war collaborators was the need for recognition by Government of their contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe.

They said their counterparts, the liberation war veterans, were getting all the attention and benefits but they were being sidelined, yet they cooked and fed the comrades during the armed struggle.

In his response to the tabled challenges, Cde Matiza promised to take their grievances up with the responsible minister.

“I came here to meet you and discuss various issues concerning the party and your welfare. I am glad that I heard for myself your concerns and I promise you I will take action. I will give all your concerns to Minister Muchinguri.

“What I urge you today is that we all need to be patient as the new dispensation is working flat out to make everyone happy in Zimbabwe,” he said.

He urged war collaborators to work hand-in-hand with the party and shun people who push personal agendas, which create cracks within the party.

“You fought for this country to be independent, but you should not relax saying we did our part. You still have the mandate to protect this party, ZANU-PF and this beloved country. A good reason why we should all be united especially now that we are heading for a by-election.

“We must love one another, we must love our party, we must guard it jealously and we must avoid those with divisive agendas and those who want to push personal agendas,” Cde Matiza said.

Cde Matiza took a swipe at unjustified price hikes of basics and said that measures to stabilise the market were in place.

He also said soon long winding fuel queues will be a thing of the past.

Meanwhile, hundreds of ZANU-PF supporters gathered at Kowo Business Centre in Mutoko North constituency where provincial commissar Cde Shumbamhini called for unity and love among party supporters.

Cde Shumbamhini called out to war veterans and collaborators to work closely with the party saying there must be unity of purpose.

He said the party respected and recognised the sacrifices made by the liberators.

“We must all know that we belong to this country. We are all here because there are people who fought for our independence, we recognise and respect that sacrifice. Therefore, I call upon all of us to jealously guard this freedom by voting for our candidate here, a ZANU-PF win means a step in the right direction, voting for ZANU-PF means voting for development,” he said.