Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa on Saturday addressed his maiden rally at White City stadium in Bulawayo under the newly branded party made a number of electoral promises to his supporters.
Industries
– Matabeleland is a rich region but the way Zanu-Pf is ruling it’s not showing that, so I am promising you that under the CCC governance, Matabeleland must shine.
-Matabeleland, we have your answers and your answers are ready, the first thing we will do as the CCC government is to make sure we restore Matabeleland as the industrial capital of our land.
Matabeleland Zambezi Water project
-We are not going to use the Zambezi water project as a campaigning gimmick, within two years of our government, we are going to have Zambezi water completed.
Gukurahundi atrocities
-I know there is the issue of Gukurahundi, I know the only leader (Umfana omncane) is the only one who is going to be able to deal with truth and reconciliation in this country. What are we going to do, first of all, let us accept that there was a violation of our citizens.
-We must make Bhalagwe a memorial shrine, we must go there and say enough is enough it must not be repeated, stop destroying the plagues that have been erected by people who feel aggrieved, stop abusing the people of Matabeleland. Give them the right to cry for their justice.
Decentralisation
-In Tsholotsho where we have a lot of resources, Nkayi, Lupane, we are going to make sure that we decentralize administration, nothing should be done in Harare, Harare cannot be the centre of everything.
-Bulawayo must also be able to do certain things, you can’t say birth certificate go to Harare, national ID goes to Harare, passports go to Harare, marriage go to Harare. We are going to make sure that in Bulawayo you will be able to have all the national registration done in the local areas so that we de-Hararerise the national registration.
Infrastructure
-Within the first three years we are going to make sure that we build roads not these two roads to Harare, we must have four, eight roads, we want people to continue to have the best infrastructure in this Country.
Arts and Culture
-We want to make sure Bulawayo is made the centre of arts and culture; we want our Amakhosi theatre, it was one of the best but it was not given the support that it deserves.
Devolution
-We want to give the authority, the power, responsibility to the locals, devolution of power.
– I have seen King Khumalo trying to lobby for the recognition of the kingship for the Matabeleland area. We are going to ground, lats have the kingship, kings are good for the national healing. We want chiefs to speak truth to power.
ZPRA properties
I lobbied in Parliament for the restoration of your properties, we will make sure that all those things are implemented, let us have properties taken back to ZPRA, ZAPU must be given back their properties, we want to respect our comrades.
