BULAWAYO — Zanu PF has rolled out door-to-door campaigns in Matabeleland South Province in an attempt to reclaim 13 seats it lost to the MDCs during the harmonised 2008 elections.
Report by Our Staff Zanu PF lost nine parliamentary and three senatorial seats to the MDCs during the elections that were marred by violence.
Andrew Langa, the Zanu PF Matabeleland South chairperson, said the party lost parliamentary and senatorial seats in the 2008 elections because it had not activated all its structures.
Langa, who is also Labour deputy minister said Zanu PF was rolling out massive campaigns — door-to-door lobbying — in a bid to grab all lost seats in the drought-prone province in the coming elections.
President Robert Mugabe has said the elections would be held in March next year, but the MDC formations insist the polls would only be possible after implementations of reforms to level the playing field.
“We are more than ready for the elections. The party is geared up to bag all the seats in the province through our massive campaigns,” Langa said last week.
“All our structures are actively campaigning for the party. We are also conducting door-to-door campaigns.” He added: “We are leaving no stone unturned in our quest to re-claim lost seats in the province.”
Zanu PF’s Matabeleland South province, he said, would also host a provincial conference this month to map out more campaign strategies. Matabeleland has been turned into a political battlefield by Zanu PF and the two MDC officials who have descended on the province to drum up support for their parties.
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Bulawayo-based analyst Effie Ncube said Zanu PF’s chances of winning seats in a fair election in Matabeleland were however slim.
“Zanu PF can only achieve that (winning seats in Matabeleland) if the people of the region, Sadc, AU and election observers allow them to use violence,” Ncube said.
He, however, said money was likely to play a very decisive role in the upcoming elections.
“One of the things that Zanu PF has achieved in Zimbabwe is to corrupt politics, to ensure that money plays a decisive role,” said Ncube.
“Those who have access to money have an advantage over other candidates or parties,” he added.
A recent survey said Zanu PF had gained ground against MDC-T across the country.
The party recently dispatched its chairpersons to China to learn campaign and mobilisation strategies.
The party is also using the empowerment programme, music and community ownership schemes to drum up support.
