The Sunday News
Mkhululi Sibanda, Assistant Editor
THE Zanu-PF candidate for Matobo North in the forthcoming harmonised elections, Cde Edgar Moyo, brings on board a wealth of experience after serving in various capacities in a number of organisations both locally and abroad.
Cde Moyo (56), a renowned educationist is no stranger to leadership positions as he has served in the Zimbabwe Schools Examinations Council (Zimsec) as a board member, Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta) as its national treasurer while he also sat on the finance committee of the Southern African Teachers Organisation (Sato). Sato is a teachers’ body for countries in the Southern African region.
On Wednesday last week, Sunday News caught up with Cde Moyo, a PhD candidate with the Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), at Maphisa Growth Point and he laid out his vision for one of the strategic constituencies in the country, which he described as the cultural hub of Zimbabwe.
When he speaks about his rural home of Kezi in general and Matobo North constituency in particular, Cde Moyo exudes passion at the same time imploring those who come from the district not to shy away from the area that gave Zimbabwe, Father Zimbabwe — the late Vice-President Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo.
“Our district is very important, we really have to reposition it on the map of this country. Besides the fact that this is where Father Zimbabwe comes from, it is the cultural headquarters of this country in the form of the Njelele Shrine. People should also not forget that this is where King Mzilikazi’s grave is located, the theatre of the first Umvukela/Chimurenga of 1893 was here, this is also where Cecil John Rhodes lies. The World Heritage Site in the form of the Matobo Hills is here. So I feel because of all these we must be sufficiently lifted in terms of our status in the country.”
Cde Moyo, however, was quick to point out that for the district to reposition itself, it would depend on the availability of significant local leadership. He said at national level, the new Government under President Emmerson Mnangagwa was doing well to uplift the lives of the people and revive the economy.
“The lifting of this district will come basically from the leadership — we need a leadership that will illuminate our issues and I am talking about the local leadership,” he said.
Cde Moyo said the urgent needs of Matobo North that he would push for if elected into Parliament were to make sure that the constituency has adequate cellular network coverage, improvement of infrastructure at schools, reviving irrigation schemes, creation of markets for crop and livestock farmers, regular dipping of cattle, decent health facilities among other important issues.
“Our people particularly ezintabeni, the mountainous areas around Matopo National Park, don’t have access to the cellular networks, there is poor connectivity and that is not good as cellphones are a now a tool for development. On the infrastructure we need to create new and rehabilitate the existing one. All those things do not necessarily need the Government, we need someone to co-ordinate, highlight, mobilise and execute,” he said.
Cde Moyo also spoke about the need to equip schools with good Science laboratories so as to make sure that locals have better chances of enrolling at universities such as the National University of Science and Technology (Nust).
On the reasons for entering mainstream politics after being in trade unionism for so many years, he explained: “It was largely on the observation that there were lots of gaps in our representation. My personal feeling which is honest is that we are not sufficiently represented. I felt we didn’t have quality representation as well as active and participatory engagements so that our issues are highlighted. People then came to me and said “you have led elsewhere so come and help us.” So my entry into mainstream politics was a combination of my observation and also people around convincing me that I have a role to play in our national discourse and development.”
Cde Moyo was born in 1962 at Kezi Hospital and grew up at Halale, an area close to Njelele Shrine. After his primary education at local schools he proceeded to Tennyson Hlabangana High School in Hope Fountain in 1976 where he did his Form One up to Three in 1978. While in Form Three in February 1978 he abandoned school and crossed the border to Botswana to join the liberation struggle.
In Botswana’s Selebi-Phikwe he was deployed in the Zapu education department to teach other recruits who were awaiting to be sent to Zambia for training. He was also deployed in the commissariat department dealing with issues of political education.
After the ceasefire he returned home in 1980 and later on returned to Tennyson Hlabangana to complete his Ordinary Level.
After school Cde Moyo was employed as a temporary teacher at Homestead School in Kezi.
In 1983 he enrolled at Hillside Teachers’ College to train as a secondary school teacher where he majored in English and also did music as his second major. After teacher training in 1987 Cde Moyo taught briefly at Mzingwane High School and was moved to Lubhangwe Secondary School in Kezi and since there was a serious shortage of secondary school teachers he was appointed the acting head.
He then headed a number of secondary schools in Kezi such as Whitewater, St Sebastian (Sigangatsha), Ratanyana, Sontala and finally Silozwi where he retired at the end of July 2017. In Zimta he rose through the ranks, rising to the position of national treasurer in 2008, a position he left upon his retirement last year. During his stint in Zimta he was in the National Joint Negotiating Council for the education sector and in 2014 was appointed board member of Zimsec and served until 2017.
It was also while he was in Zimta that Cde Moyo was elected into Sato.
On the academic side, Cde Moyo besides his teachers’ training qualification, he read for a degree in Education Management with the University of Pretoria. He also attained a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with ZOU in 2011. In 2015 he enrolled with ZOU again for his PhD in Business Management, which he is still doing. Cde Moyo is also a successful cattle rancher in Kezi and businessman.
To gain the ticket to represent Zanu-PF Cde Moyo beat the sitting MP, Cde Never Khanye by polling more than 1 200 votes against Cde Khanye’s 140. Others contestants were local businessmen, Cdes Tapson Ncube and Meshack Ndlovu and Cde Mfakazi Maphosa who all polled above 300 votes.
