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Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu/Andile Tshuma, Chronicle Reporters

ZANU-PF Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South provinces have endorsed President Mnangagwa as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 elections and recommended that the Government speedily implements developmental projects in the region.

Matabeleland South structures met in Gwanda yesterday while their Matabeleland North counterparts convened in Lupane at the weekend where they made a number of resolutions ahead of the Zanu-PF National People’s Conference to be held at Goromonzi High School, Mashonaland East next week.

Matabeleland South provincial secretary for legal affairs, Cde Morris Muhambi reiterated the province’s confidence in President Mnangagwa. 

“We also agreed that an electronic [membership registration] team should be stationed in the province as joining the party is a continuous system. There is need to quicken establishment of Herbert Chitepo College of Ideology as it’s taking long. People’s shops should be established in various districts so that they can assist people who are failing to buy goods because of exorbitant prices,” he said.

He said the province also resolved that the provision of exclusive prospecting orders be removed as they were hindering people from engaging in mining activities, laws be crafted to end the three tier pricing system, the drought mitigation programme be doubled and for diesel to be provided for the tillage programme as tractors were struggling to plough for people because of diesel shortages.

Cde Muhambi said the province also wanted the welfare of war veterans to be improved as had been promised. They also said war veterans had to be allocated an acre of land each and a loan to develop the land in honour of the land quota.

He said the province wants civil servants to be vetted to ensure that they were not against Government’s vision and policies and that all Members of Parliament that did not recognise the President forfeit Parliamentary benefits and the Government to speed up the land audit.

Speaking during the same meeting, provincial youth league chairman, Cde Washington Nkomo said youths from the province wanted better representation in the Parliament.

“We want 60 percent of the people who are selected under the women’s quota to be aged between 18 and 45 years, out of the 210 parliamentary seats we want 40 percent of them to be occupied by people aged between 18 and 50 years. NGOs that are pursuing political agendas should be removed from the province, youths have an allocation in drought mitigation programmes.

“ZUPCO should deploy buses in rural areas, a one man one farm policy should be introduced, everyone should pass through the national youth service and Government should ensure that the judicial system is effective. As youths we rally behind President E D Mnangagwa as our sole candidate in the 2023 elections,” he said.

Zanu-PF Matabeleland North provincial chairperson Cde Richard Moyo said top of their resolutions was the endorsement of President Mnangagwa as the sole party presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.

He said the province had also resolved to push for the amendment of the constitution to extend the women’s quota to 2030 in line with the party’s vision 2030 mantra of achieving gender parity.

“We have resolved to rally behind the President as our candidate for the 2023 elections and we also have resolved to push for the extension of the women’s quota. Some of our key agenda items include the issue of roads rehabilitation and highway fencing for Bulawayo-Victoria Falls road which has killed a lot of people due to wild animals coming onto the road. We also want the issue of drilling of more boreholes to be addressed as we have a problem of siltation of dams,” said Cde Moyo. — @DubeMatutu @andile_tshuma