CHIKOMBA – The leader of the smaller MDC faction, Professor Welshman Ncube launched his party’s election campaign in Chikomba, Mashonaland East province. The Industry and Commerce Minister also used the event to introduce his party candidates.
Joining Ncube was Zapu president Dumiso Dabengwa and several Zapu officials. The two parties announced an electoral pact several days ago although its finer details remain unclear since Dabengwa is also a presidential candidate. It was also left to individual candidates to pull out in favour of the other.
The MDC has hinged its campaign on devolution of power, which seems to resonate well in Matabeleland where government stands accused of promoting underdevelopment of that region through neglect.
More pictures coming as we get them…………..
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According to political analyst Dumisani Nkomo “the party’s major weakness, however, whether real or perceived, is that it is viewed as a regional or tribal party. It lacks a national appeal and they have to address that.”
It has also not helped Ncube that a very militant but minority section of his followers are fond of using social media networks to trade tribal slurs with supporters of other parties. Ncube has been advised to control such elements but it seems nothing has either been done or he is failing to control them.
According to Nkomo “The quality of some of its candidates is also worrying and the party may have lost ground under the leadership of [Arthur] Mutambara, when a number of senior people defected to MDC-T including MP’s like [Abednico] Bhebhe and other senior party officials.
