Chamisa unveils aggressive rural voter mobilization strategy
Staff Writer
The plans come shortly after the trailblazing opposition leader defied the odds during the March 26 by-elections after scooping 19 out of 28 parliamentary seats maintaining a lead over the ruling Zanu-pf party.
The ruling Zanu-pf party continues to enjoy majority support in the rural areas where the largest numbers of Zimbabweans reside and have for years kept the doors to that corridor shut out for the opposition.
But CCC interim secretary-general Charton Hwende said the opposition party will invade the rural turf in an overdrive to consolidate the gains.
He said they will be following President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s strategy of drilling boreholes in each of the country’s rural wards.
“The president (Chamisa) embarked on a tour of all the rural areas where he met Zimbabweans before we formed CCC. Our rural penetration program is a continuation of what the president started,” Hwende said.
“Rural areas are key for the CCC, this is where most of the electoral violations take place. That’s where headmen and chiefs force people to vote for Zanu PF. So it is our duty as a party to ensure we have a strong presence in the rural areas.”
“This is meant to penetrate the ruling party’s rural areas, they will manage to mobilise substantial support from the rural areas, and this will brighten their chances of winning the presidential vote,” the central committee report read in part.
Hwende said the opposition party would be “leaving no village unturned.”
“We are also urging our supporters that every weekend they visit their rural areas and be with the people there to understand how they live, to campaign and sell the CCC message,” he said.
“Operation Handei Kumusha is ongoing and all our party cadres are deployed in villages throughout the country, leaving no village unturned. We are under 12 months before the next election. It is now full throttle campaigning throughout the country and fundraising is also ongoing driven by the citizens themselves.”
