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THE ruling Zanu-PF party’s victory in Bulawayo’s Ward 28 by-election held at the weekend should spur the revolutionary movement to reinvigorate its structures in the city in readiness for tougher battles ahead. 

The win garnered by Cde Kidwell Mujuru against his closest challenger Ms Nomagugu Mloyi of the MDC Alliance is also an indication that Zanu-PF is slowly making inroads into the main urban centres which have been opposition strongholds.  

The Zanu-PF candidate got 1 899 votes against Ms Mloyi’s 1 229 votes. Another MDC-A candidate Mr Collet Ndlovu got a paltry 221 votes.

This meant that Cde Mujuru got 449 more votes than the two MDC-A candidates combined.

He becomes the only Zanu-PF councillor out of 29 councillors in an MDC-A dominated Bulawayo City Council.

The victory comes against the backdrop of a restructuring exercise initiated by Zanu-PF following the dissolution of the party’s structures in Harare and Bulawayo. 

Zanu-PF First Secretary and President Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa dissolved the structures of the two metropolitan provinces and assigned his deputies, Cdes Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi to superintend over the restructuring exercise.

Vice President Mohadi, who was tasked with overseeing the restructuring of Bulawayo province, last week said the ongoing restructuring exercise of Bulawayo province is well on course although there will be a need to extend its deadline to attend to all structures. 

The province, he said, had gone for too long with shambolic structures and disunity resulting in poor performance in elections.

VP Mohadi lamented the fact that there were no cells in Bulawayo and this was the reason why the province performed badly in the elections. 

“We are going to reinvigorate the party by coming up with structures, so far I’m told that 104 structures have been done but I’m told that the target is that it should be 1 240 but we are very far from the target so it is indeed plausible that we extend it so that we can get the cells. We can’t win an election if we don’t have the cells. I don’t know what has gone wrong. What is the problem? Zanu-PF has been there since 1957… it doesn’t matter whether it changed names to what is called Zanu-PF today but our political movement started long back,” said VP Mohadi. 

“We are still the same people, what happened, a mafikizolo has come and taken the people in Bulawayo and we have nothing. There must be something wrong, we should reflect on ourselves, we are not doing our work.” 

Indeed, the party needs to work hard to reclaim its dominance of the country’s political landscape.

While it has done very well in the two Matabeleland provinces where it almost recorded a clean sweep in Matabeleland South in the harmonised elections last year, Bulawayo has largely remained an MDC-A cauldron. 

The victory in Cowdray Park shows that voters are increasingly getting disillusioned with the MDC-A and are prepared to dump it for a party that can deliver tangible results.

The MDC-A is currently torn apart by factionalism ahead of its congress next month with provincial officials divided between those supporting its president Mr Nelson Chamisa and those behind secretary general Mr Douglas Mwonzora who is challenging the incumbent for the top post. 

The tension and acrimony is likely to reach fever pitch at congress and thereafter the party could split depending on the outcome.

As the MDC-A unravels, Zanu-PF should continue with its restructuring exercises so that it lays a solid foundation for the 2023 polls.

Party cadres should close ranks and consign factionalism to the dustbin of history.

Provinces such as Bulawayo should be hard at work winning over voters who are clearly disgruntled with the current lot of opposition councillors and Members of Parliament who promised so much but delivered very little on their electoral promises. 

In Bulawayo South, MP Raj Modi showed what can be done with hard work, dedication and unity of purpose when he defeated the MDC-A candidates during the harmonised elections.

He is clearly one of the hardest working legislators in the August House and his example should be emulated by his peers in Zanu-PF. 

While Government continues to turnaround the economy and rebuild Zimbabwe brick by brick, stone by stone, the onus is on the rank and file of Zanu-PF to support President Mnangagwa’s vision 2030 by upholding unity and peace in the party.

Victories such as those achieved in Cowdray Park can only come about with unity and we commend the teams that worked with Cde Mujuru in canvassing for votes. 

We call on those tasked with carrying out the party’s restructuring exercise in Bulawayo to continue with their work undeterred until they achieve their objectives.

We are certain they will be energised and buoyed by the sweet victory notched in Ward 28.