The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has said it is confident of victory in Matabeleland South’s two local government by-elections slated for next month in Insiza and Matobo districts.
Both by-elections will be held on October 22.
In Insiza, the by-election will be held in Ward 4 following the death of Lawrence Maphosa who belonged to the ruling ZANU-PF party while in Matobo the by-election will be in Ward 2 and has also been occasioned by the death of another ZANU-PF councillor Tom Moyo.
CCC will be represented by Sindiso Ngwenya in Matobo, who will face Fredrick Siwela of the ZANU-PF party and Liberty Nyirongo of ZAPU.
In Insiza CCC’s Augustine Gumede will battle it out with ZANU-PF’s Daniel Dube.
Speaking to CITE, CCC’s Matabeleland South provincial spokesperson, Ntando Ndlela said they were confident of victory, adding their campaigns in two districts were already in full swing in the two districts.
“As an organisation, we have always been with the people canvassing for CCC votes,” said Ndlela.
“Our chances are good as CCC. From the way we look at things, we have already won this election.”
He said in Insiza, they would ride on the failures of the late councillor.
“There is nothing that the late ZANU-PF councillor, Lawrence Maphosa did for people,” said Ndlela.
“May his soul rest in peace. So, we expect Ward 4 residents to vote for change by voting for Augustine Gumede.”
CCC recently wrestled two out of three council seats from ZANU-PF in the Bulilima by-elections.
“We say thumbs-up to the people of Bulilima for voting for change,” Ndlela said. “What we have learnt as a party is that it is very important to reach-out to the people, sit down with them and tell them what we stand for as CCC, what changes we are going to bring if you are to compare us with the ZANU-PF government.”
Ndlela further said: “We also learnt that door to door campaigns are very effective because we did not organise many meetings in Bulilima. We visited different homes requesting people to vote for our CCC candidates. We hope that since the people of Bulilima have seen the need for change and voted for CCC, Insiza and Matobo will follow suit.”
He said they would not rest until they romp to victory.
“Our responsibility is to go to people’s homes, talk to the people and give them the opportunity to vote for change,” he said, adding they would not promise much.
“There is a danger in promising voters something. We have seen in the past some politicians promise people and then fail to deliver in the end. Our candidates are candidates that have come from the people. We now have a new way of selecting candidates so as to come up with community candidates.”
He added: “Upon being voted into office our candidates will then go back to the people and speak to the people. We will also work closely with traditional leaders such as chiefs and village heads in our development projects.”
