Jabulani Sibanda descends on Manicaland

Staff Reporter

WAR veterans’ leader, Jabulani Sibanda, will descend on Manicaland at the start of the New Year to canvass support for ZANU-PF in the wake of calls for fresh elections next year.

Sibanda — a controversial figure within and without the revolutionary party — spent the greater part of the year mobilising support for ZANU-PF in the fractious Masvingo Province, in an operation dubbed Budai Pachena (come out clean).
He is now taking his campaign trail to the Eastern Highlands, which happens to be Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s home province, before unwinding it to the remaining provinces.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader hails from Buhera, a district in Manicaland.
Yesterday, Sibanda was locked in meetings with members of his executive, preparing for the onslaught on the province.
His campaign in Masvingo drew mixed feelings with the MDC formations accusing him of using violence to intimidate voters. Sibanda dismissed these allegations as baseless.
The ZANU-PF Masvingo provincial leadership was also divided over Sibanda’s campaign methods. A section of the party accused him of fanning factionalism and alienating the party from its supporters while his admirers lauded him for helping ZANU-PF regain lost ground.
In Masvingo, ZANU-PF lost sizeable ground to the MDC-T in the 2008 harmonised elections that cost President Robert Mugabe an outright win, leading to the Southern African Development Community-brokered powering sharing truce with Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
Out of the 26 contested House of Assembly seats, ZANU-PF won 12 against 14 of the MDC-T while out of the five Senate seats; ZANU-PF won two against three won by the MDC-T. 
A number of top ZANU-PF guns were also trounced by MDC-T upstarts in Manicaland. 
Out of 26 contested seats in Manicaland, the MDC-T won 20. 
Among the ZANU-PF heavyweights that were routed by the MDC-T are Patrick Chinamasa (Makoni Central), Shadreck Chipanga (Makoni South), Oppah Muchinguri (Mutasa Central), Kumbirai Kangai (Buhera Central), Enoch Porusingazi (Chipinge South), Chris Mushohwe (Mutare West), Joseph Chinotimba (Buhera South) and Joseph Made (Makoni West).
Yesterday, Sibanda said the former liberation war fighters would do whatever they can to mobilise support for ZANU-PF countrywide.
“We are leaving no stone unturned to thwart the MDC sell-outs countrywide. This is our country and we are free to campaign anywhere. I am in a meeting right now to strategise,” he said.
At the ZANU-PF conference last week, Sibanda lashed out at what he described as dishonest party members, saying it was disappointing that the party had double-dealing politicians within its ranks.
Pishai Muchauraya, the MDC-T spokesperson for Manicaland, said Sibanda’s sojourn in the province would yield little results.
“We heard he (Sibanda) is coming to Manicaland, but we are prepared for his arrival so that we teach him a political lesson in this land of our forefathers. He will not achieve whatever he has set out to gain because we long mobilised and people here know what they want,” said Muchauraya.
“The question the people of Manicaland are asking themselves is: Why target Manicaland instead of concentrating his energies on compiling a list of people who perished during the early 1980s disturbances? Manicaland is a liberated zone for the MDC. 
“In fact, our plan is to sweep the entire province. We are happy to tell him that we have found strong and credible candidates to dislodge the six remaining ZANU-PF legislators here,” he added.