| Simba on Tour - Midlands Province |
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Today, 06 March 2008 was yet another steamroller day on the Makoni juggernaut. The day started off with the campaign leaving Harare for the rural areas of the Midlands province.
First stop were villages around Sanyati. Here, Dr Makoni was met by crowds of enthusiastic villagers who had been waiting to see him since 11:00 a.m. Word had gone ahead that the next president of Zimbabwe was on his way. Chiefs were in attendance, as were headmen and other workers in the region. The attached photos tell the story clearly enough. Again, Dr Makoni's message was that he was here to present himself to the people of Zimbabwe, to whom he had offered himself as candidate for the presidency. The people received him in the spirit that he had offered himself and it was clear that, even here, his name was already known and his support solid. He also stopped to chat to doctors and nurses as he did yesterday, 05 March in Centenary. It is amazing that their message is the same: "We can't wait for you to get into power. Things will get better with you in charge. We know you can do better." At Nembudziya, a Growth Point deep in the heartlands of the Midlands, he was welcomed by a massive crowd that nearly overwhelmed his convoy. Surging forward, the villagers kept asking, "Ari pano Simba?" "Is Simba really here?" The attached photos show Dr Makoni at Nembudziya walking along the shopfronts, since it is his policy on the
Meet The People tours not to gather much of a crowd in order not to fall foul of the POSA laws. If he were to discard this policy, there is no doubt that he would be holding a rally at every stop, such is the enthusiasm of the people and their eagerness to see him. Some wanted questions answered and others were simply content to see him and hear what he had to say. Two men in the crowd were heard talking to each other:
As on the other campaign trips, he also told the gatherings that he wanted to bring them leadership that does not steal from people, leadership that will not make people work for it but one that works for the people. This message seems to have a special resonance with rural people.
The responses also seem to confirm as the people kept shouting, "We are tired of ZANU PF lies! We are tired of this old man!" And one other comment from the villages was, "We are behind you, Simba. Don't let us down." This comment was made by a woman at Sanyati Growth Point, who was standing with two friends, holding a baby. It really just brought home to us the amount of trust that people have in this man. Again at Sanyati, a young man who had managed to get a Makoni T-shirt and was holding a poster made the comment, "Iye zvino ndava kuzodzokera kubasa manje. Simba, wazvionera wega zvakaita maroads edu. Pamwe ukapinda zvinhu zvinoita better." This translates into: "Now I will definitely be going to work, I will be getting a job. Simba, you have seen for yourself how bad our roads are. Maybe if you get in, things will get better." From Nembudziya, we headed for Kwekwe to overnight there. Dr Makoni witnessed for himself the appalling state of the roads in this area around Nembudziya and Snayati. These roads do not qualify to be called roads. Rutted, gutted and full of dips, holes and bumps, they made travelling very very |
uncomfortable but enjoyable for the experience that they afforded the campaign.