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Mr Raj Modi

Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporter
PROMINENT businessman Cde Raj Modi is the first in 18 years to win a parliamentary seat in Bulawayo in an election involving the opposition MDC.

The city has been an MDC stronghold and the opposition party has been claming all the 12 seats since 2000. Cde Modi won the Bulawayo South seat in the just ended harmonised elections.

In 2015, Zanu-PF won six constituencies following by elections boycotted by the MDC.

Cde Modi could not hide his joy when The Chronicle caught up with him while having a braai with his campaign team made up of mostly youths from Bulawayo South.

“I am so happy, I am excited. This shows that we are in a new dispensation ready to change the order of things. We are going to make Bulawayo great again. The industrial giant will rise,” said Cde Modi.

He said he had a five-year development plan and he has already done the groundwork for the projects he intends to implement during his term.

Meanwhile, congratulatory messages have been pouring in from Zanu-PF bigwigs across the country since the announcement of his win.

The Bulawayo Provincial Affairs Minister Cde Angeline Masuku in her congratulatory message said Cde Modi’s win was testimony that Zanu-PF under the new dispensation was destined for success.

“This is very good news to the people of Bulawayo and we as Bulawayo congratulate Cde Modi on his victory. It is a victory for us all. We are very happy that he has committed himself to work with the people and with the party to change the lives of the disadvantaged and to improve the general livelihood of the people that he will represent,” said Cde Masuku.

She said his victory also showed that the ruling party was for everyone because it does not discriminate based on race, colour, creed, tribe or religion.

“This is testimony that Zanu-PF does not discriminate because in the party we are all equal. Cde Modi has shown that it is possible for all races to work together to build the country,” said Cde Masuku.

Cde Modi said he had received congratulatory messages from party officials across the country.

“I have been a party member since 2002 but I have never contested for any seat. It is only this year that I decided to contest for Member of Parliament,” said Cde Modi.

He said his relationship with the Bulawayo South community made his campaign task easy.

“The people know me as I work closely with them. I have been a member of this community for the past 37 years,” he said.

@andile_tshuma