The ruling Zanu PF party should be
retained in power in the forthcoming general elections to
honour the tens of thousands of freedom fighters who fought and died in
the countrys war of independence, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on
Saturday.
The country will hold 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 1980.
With such a rich liberation history, President Mnangagwa said the ruling
party should win the election , 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 its 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 put robust measures in place to
Ensure that 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, the President told the gathering.
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 nations
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 havent 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 countrys 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 endeavour 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