MDC confident of doing well in rural district council elections

By Tichaona Sibanda
25 October 2006

The Movement for Democratic Change believes it has done enough ground work to sway rural voters to their side, but that their biggest threat will come from Zanu (PF) rigging the forthcoming rural district council elections.

The party has been engaged in an intensive nationwide rural campaign to drum up support ahead of this weekend’s poll. A statement by the Tsvangirai led camp said their team led by their President himself was currently spread around the whole country drumming up support for the candidates.

‘Tsvangirai, Vice-President Thokozani Khupe, national chairman Isaac Matongo and the rest of the team have in the last week been virtually camped in the rural areas and will only be back in Harare on Friday,’ the statement added.

So confident is the MDC of countering Zanu (PF)’s influence in rural Zimbabwe that party spokesman Nelson Chamisa claimed that only electoral theft will save them from defeat.

Piniel Denga, national council member for Mashonaland East, told Newsreel Wednesday that several of their supporters’ houses in Mudzi West were burned to the ground by local Zanu (PF) thugs in the presence of the party’s candidate for the area.

‘We have shaken Zanu (PF) to its foundations by successfully registering candidates in areas where they never thought the MDC would make inroads. In retaliation Zanu (PF) has in the last two weeks waged a relentless terror campaign against our supporters. We have members who have sustained broken limbs and the police have been powerless to anything,’ said Denga.

In Kadoma, the campaign for the mayoral election this Saturday was in full swing Wednesday, with Bolomani Marere, the campaign manager for the MDC candidate Jonas Ndenda predicting victory.

‘We have done our home work. Even known Zanu (PF) supporters working for the council have approached us telling us that we have come up with a good candidate. We have promised to fight corruption, which has destroyed the municipality and to clean up the whole town once we get elected,’ said Marere.

See report and pictures of MDC rural election campaign