Zimbabwe African People’s Union (Zapu) candidate in the Matobo ward 2 by-election, Liberty Nyirongo has bemoaned voter apathy among rural voters ahead of the October 22 by-elections.
The ward fell vacant following the death of Zanu-PF councillor Tom Moyo.
Nyirongo will battle it out with Sindiso Ngwenya of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Frederick Siwela Siwela of Zanu-PF.
In an interview with CITE, Nyirongo shared his concern about the low interest among voters in the ward as election day beckons.
“We have managed to conduct our campaign, ward 2 has seven villages, so far, we have been to four villages and we are left with three. There are some villagers who do not want to even see us, some people are telling us point blank that they are not going to vote because they are not seeing the benefit of participating,” he said.
Nyirongo said the villagers are complaining that politicians often neglect them after voting.
“They are saying candidates only know them when they are campaigning, after winning, we don’t return to them but I have been encouraging them.”
He, however, said that villagers want the issue of water challenges addressed.
“Some people are accepting our message and they are saying if ever we win, we should address the issue of water shortages, there are no boreholes in the ward and they walk long distances to get water, so they are saying if we win we should at least drill a borehole,” said Nyirongo.
