Movement for Democratic Change supporters at the party’s rally in Bulawayo
Zimbabwe’s political gladiators are jostling for the hearts and minds of the Matabeleland electorate as it emerges as the region that might swing the result.
But President Robert Mugabe may have blown Zanu-PF’s chances in the region. Far from Matabeleland, in the Manicaland province, Mugabe on Tuesday chose to ridicule men in Matabeleland.
Since 2000, Matabeleland has been a stronghold for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T). In the 2008 parliamentary polls, Tsvangirai took Bulawayo and two-thirds of Matabeleland North and South.
But the number of supporters who attended Zanu-PF rallies in recent weeks in Matabeleland may worry Tsvangirai.
Mugabe is scheduled to hold a star rally in Bulawayo on Saturday, hardly a week after he spoke at two well-attended gatherings in Lupane in Matabeleland North and in Gwanda in Matabeleland South, but there have been claims that people were coerced to attend.
The MDC-T’s rallies have also been crowd-pullers. Last Saturday, Tsvangirai painted Bulawayo red by filling the 15 000-seater White City Stadium with supporters.
Mugabe on Matabeleland
Mugabe’s comments in Manicaland have angered many. “In Matabeleland South, there has always been a tradition that, if you have not been to South Africa, then you’re not a man,” he said.
“I was 21 in 1945 and teaching at Empandeni in Plumtree … the whole area had no men, just women. The poverty that was there! The women couldn’t till the fields. Where were the men? In South Africa!
“They came back from South Africa, some came twice a year carrying some blankets. That was a tradition. If they got a bicycle, they were sorted,” Mugabe said.
What may worry Tsvangirai in this region is the MDC, a breakaway group from his party led by Welshman Ncube. Ncube accuses Tsvangirai of tribalism – a charge that seems to stick in this part of Zimbabwe.
Ncube hit the campaign trail earlier than Tsvangirai, and penetrated the depths of Matabeleland’s rural areas.
Mugabe’s men know the challenge that is Matabeleland. The area suffered through the Gukurahundi atrocities in the 1980s, in which more than 20 000 mainly Ndebele people were brutally murdered by the army’s Korean-trained Fifth Brigade.
Party promises
Zanu-PF’s national chairperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, and party secretary for economic affairs Obert Mpofu are well aware of this, and they have been hard at work criss-crossing the region and canvassing for votes.
The promises from all the parties are the same: dams, water pipelines to combat the arid region’s weather, food aid to assist in years of drought;,and the revival of defunct industries.
Only Ncube breaks rank by promising devolution – a message that may well resonate in an area that has for years remained underdeveloped. Many say that underdevelopment is not a mistake and has been carefully choreographed by the government to punish the people there for supporting Mugabe’s long-time rival, the late vice-president Joshua Nkomo.
Tsvangirai boldly put a number to his promises – at least 10% of the national budget will be set aside for the development of Matabeleland.
Rashweat Mukundu, a political analyst who chairs the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, said Matabeleland will have the final say on who wins the July 31 polls.
“The Matabeleland vote is the swing vote that can tilt the election result to one side, so parties are focusing on the province – knowing very well that whoever is supported by Matabeleland provinces will likely carry the election,” he said.