The Sunday Mail
Sunday Mail Reporter
ZANU PF will continue working towards economic growth and development of the country through implementing policies that address challenges faced by the people following the party’s resounding victory in the recent harmonised elections, the party’s Matabeleland South provincial chairperson, Cde Mangaliso Ndlovu, has said.
Speaking to journalists yesterday after leading a delegation of the province’s party leadership to congratulate President Mnangagwa at State House in Harare on his re-election, Cde Ndlovu said his province will work on regaining constituencies lost to the opposition in the August 23-24 elections.
ZANU PF won eight National Assembly constituencies in Matabeleland South province, while the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) won four. Cde Ndlovu said the province remains a ZANU PF stronghold despite the opposition’s marginal wins.
“As a province, we have come to congratulate him for the thunderous victory that he has given us, as ZANU PF.
“We had an opportunity to discuss our performance as Matabeleland South province,” Cde Ndlovu said.
“We believe Matabeleland South can do a lot better than it did during the recent elections.
“Nonetheless, we want to thank the people of Matabeleland South because overall, our President won and we have eight constituencies out of 12. We are looking at our weaknesses, as ZANU PF. We are going to work hard to regain lost ground.”
He said the province was working on coming up with measures to address several challenges faced by the area, which include migration of young people to South Africa.
“In our discussions with the President, we assured him that we want to do a thorough introspection. We do not want to impose our views and observations. We are starting at our grassroots level . . . we have our leadership to consolidate areas we think we have challenges and where we need to focus on,” added Cde Ndlovu.
“We believe that Matabeleland South remains a ZANU PF stronghold and we will work much harder to retain that.”
He said a lot of young people from the province fought for the liberation of the country.
“It is this revolutionary spirit embedded in Matabeleland South that we have relied on over the years,” he continued.
“We have a number of challenges, one of them being the migration issue which we will be looking at to see how we can curb the movement of our young people to South Africa.
“It is one of the issues we discussed with the President and we are confident that what came out will go a long way in addressing some of the key household issues.”
The Matabeleland South province leadership delegation also thanked the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa for spearheading projects in the province and across the country through her Angel of Hope Foundation.
Cde Ndlovu said the projects dovetailed with President Mnangagwa’s infrastructural development programmes and Vision 2030.
“We discussed a lot of things. He (President Mnangagwa) is in a jovial mood. We wished him well, wished him good health, but above all, we thanked the First Lady for being a key pillar of strength for him,” Cde Ndlovu added.
Other members of the delegation included Matabeleland South Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Cde Abedinico Ncube; ICT, Postal and Courier Services Deputy Minister and Bulilima legislator Dingumuzi Phuti; Cde Andrew Langa and other representatives from the province.
