Chipinge (New Ziana) – The ruling ZANU-PF party should be retained in power in the forthcoming general elections as a mark of honour for tens of thousands of freedom fighters who fought and died in the country’s war of independence, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Saturday.
The country holds combined presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on August 23 to choose new representatives for the next five years.
Launching ZANU-PF’s election manifesto here, President Mnangagwa said keeping the memory and legacy of fallen freedom fighters was important for the country.
ZANU-PF led the war of independence, which ended British colonial rule in the country in 1980.
With such a rich liberation history, President Mnangagwa said the ruling party should win the vote, for the country to continue safeguarding the legacy of its war heroes.
He took a swipe at the West, led by the US, for imposing sanctions on the country in an attempt to force the government to reverse its land reforms, under which excess farmland from white farmers was compulsorily acquired to resettle landless peasants.
He said the sanctions were primarily meant to galvanise people to revolt against the government, to enable the West to install a pliant political party in power.
“By imposing sanctions on us through ZIDERA, the West thought you, the people would turn against the government and effect a regime change.
“But this was not the case and I would like to thank you for remaining resolute and standing firm in defence of the country and it’s legacy,” President Mnangagwa said.
“This election presents you another opportunity to defend the county through your vote,” he told more than 30 000 party supporters gathered at Mutema High School in Chipinge.
Turning to bread and butter issues, top most in the minds of Zimbabweans, he said the government had robust measures in place to ensure no one starved in the country.
“We have resolved the issue on food security through giving free inputs to over three million households. For medium to bigger farmers, we have loans for them to meet agricultural needs. This has ensured that for three solid years we have produced enough food to meet the needs of the country,” President Mnangagwa said.
“Regions may differ in output year by year but we have managed to give food in areas that have a deficiency in order to cater for the nation’s needs,” he said.
But he said climate change remained a big threat to food security, which is why government was putting emphasis on developing irrigation schemes around the country.
It wants, he said, the country to be less reliant on rain-fed agriculture for national food security.
On the economic front, President Mnangagwa said government had recently achieved a key objective – ensuring near self-sufficiency in power supply, a vital enabler for the economy.
That is after two power generating units at Hwange Power Station came on stream three weeks ago following refurbishment at a cost of US$1.4 billion.
President Mnangagwa said more power projects were in the pipeline.
“When we got USD $1.4 billion from China, we were able to work on (Hwange Power) Stations 7 and 8 which gave us another 600 megawatts which was put on the national grid,” he said.
“Since then, which is about three weeks ago, we haven’t experienced load shedding and we are still working on having other stations which can be powered and feed to the national grid,” he said.
He implored youths to be focused, and obedient, and shun destructive behaviours such as abuse of drugs, telling them the country’s future depended on them.
“You have heard about my history, I was obedient when young and listened to elders when I was sent. Those who left us the legacy to carry on had no worries about leaving the county in the hands of people like me,” he said.
“But can that be said of you the youth of today? Can we the older generation be comfortable to leave the country in your hands? I doubt that much because of rampant drug and substance abuse that has taken (a) toll across the country, that should stop forthwith,” President Mnangagwa said.
He said government will continue to better the lives of chiefs, with programmes ongoing to drill boreholes and install solar power at their homesteads.
“On a similar note, we have earmarked 35 000 villages across the country to have solar powered boreholes where we will have horticultural gardens run by women. This is all in an endeavor to be self sufficient at household level,” he said.
He implored ZANU-PF candidates who lost in primary elections to support winners in the broader interest of the party.
President Mnangagwa reiterated calls for peaceful elections, and warned would-be trouble makers that police and other law enforcement agencies would deal with them sternly.
New Ziana
