In the run-up to the 2018 elections, Zanu PF parliamentary candidate for Kwekwe Central constituency, Kandros Mugabe set aside US$8000 to pay rent for vulnerable ruling party supporters in the constituency.
Speaking at a rally on 28 February 2018, that was attended by hundreds of Zanu PF supporters at the Globe and Phoenix soccer grounds in Kwekwe, Mugabe pledged that he was going to pay rentals to vulnerable Zanu PF supporters for four years, in the event that he was going to win the elections.
Initially, the pledge was dismissed in some quarters as mere rhetoric and electioneering but since then, and despite losing that parliamentary contest four years ago, Mugabe has kept the promise- he continues to pay rent for Zanu PF supporters in Kwekwe- the hometown of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
“At first, I had made that pledge on condition that I was going to win the elections but despite the electoral setback, I decided to keep that promise,” he told this publication in an interview this week.
“If you still remember, quite a considerable number of doubting Thomases dismissed my promise as mere electoral rhetoric but after the 2018 loss, ndakagara pasi nana Mai ndikati toita sei nenyaya dzema rent evana va Baba Mnangagwa (After losing the elections in 2018, I had a meeting with my wives over the pledge I had made),” said the cleric-cum-business-magnate who is an Archbishop at Zvipo ZveMweya Apostolic Church and has two wives.
Mugabe said his wives encouraged him to owe up to his pledge despite losing in the elections where the late National Patriotic Front (NPF) legislator Masango ‘Blackman’ Matambanadzo emerged victorious.
“I have continued to pay rent for the supporters because they vote for President Mnangagwa. Remember, I had my CV dismissed at the eleventh hour for by-elections early this year but I cannot give blame on the supporters because they are not the ones who did that. I am still hopeful that I am going to contest on a Zanu PF ticket in 2023 and I want Zanu PF supporters to know that I am a well that never dries up- I will still pay rent for them as I have always been doing since 2018,” he said.
The Zvipo ZveMweya church leader, who is also Zanu Kwekwe DCC Secretary of Finance, suffered a set back in March after the province disqualified him and Energy Dhala Ncube from representing the party in the by-elections.
Zanu PF ended up fielding a weaker candidate in John Mapurazi, who dismally fell to Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate, Judith Tobaiwa.
Judith is daughter to late Kwekwe Deputy Mayor, Shadreck Tobaiwa while Dhala is nephew to former state security minister, Owen Mudha Ncube.
Zwnews
