By A Correspondent
INSIZA NORTH – ZANU PF’s campaign trail hit full stride this past Saturday in Shangani’s Sweet Home area, where the party officially launched its bid for the Insiza North by-election with a rally heavy on praise for President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government’s development efforts.
The ruling party’s top brass unleashed a barrage of lofty declarations, portraying President Mnangagwa as the embodiment of progress and prosperity—”pure honey,” in the words of some supporters. Campaigning for the party’s candidate, Cde Delani Moyo, ZANU PF leaders used the stage to trumpet a range of developmental projects and to draw a direct line between them and the President’s so-called “Second Republic.”
“If you look at the calibre of our candidate, you see that we are serious about development,” said ZANU PF Matabeleland South Provincial Chairperson, Cde Mangaliso Ndlovu. “Cde Delani is a committed ZANU PF cadre, and is following the policies of the President that seek to have inclusive development. The work that is already being done by Cde Delani is a clear demonstration that he will do a lot to transform this community.”
From boreholes to base stations, the speakers catalogued what they claimed to be tangible results of ZANU PF’s governance: 14 boreholes drilled, roads rehabilitated, a mobile network base station installed, and schools equipped with ICT tools.
The rally, attended by hundreds including many youths, was also used to project electoral dominance and to frame the by-election as a foregone conclusion.
“Insiza North has a future,” said Politburo member Cde Richard Ndlovu. “The turnout here shows that we are assured of victory. We are confident that you will deliver the seat to ZANU PF because it is rightfully ours.”
National Political Commissar Cde Munyaradzi Machacha went further, portraying the vote as not just for a local MP, but as a referendum on Mnangagwa’s leadership.
“In your constituency you are seeing boreholes being drilled, roads being graded… Before the end of the week we should have eight solarised boreholes,” said Machacha. “These are the works of ZANU PF, the works of President Mnangagwa. So when you are voting for Delani, you are voting for ZANU PF, you are voting for a party that brings development to the citizenry.”
He continued: “President Mnangagwa’s vision is to see to it that there will be no place left behind. In a week, you are going to have network in this area.”
The campaign event, rich in patriotic fanfare and political hyperbole, was more than a call to vote—it was a full-throated appeal to loyalty. And if the rhetoric is anything to go by, ZANU PF is betting on the idea that development promises, wrapped in praise for Mnangagwa, will be enough to sweeten the vote in Insiza North.