The Sunday News
Midlands Bureau
THEY are cousins who usually meet on family gatherings to discuss matters of family importance and other issues within the family.
They however, belong in different political baskets and on 30 July, Cde Barbara Rwodzi who represents the ruling Zanu-PF party will have to battle it out with her cousin, Mr Simbarashe Mukashi of MDC Alliance among other aspiring National Assembly members eyeing the Chirumanzu Constituency.
Yes, their relationship did nothing to see them supporting each other’s cause, instead they are in the political trenches where they seek to outdo each other although they confirm that there is no bad blood between them. It is their freedom of association and belonging that they are happily employing and enjoying.
Born and bred in Chirumanzu, Cde Rwodzi becomes unique in the sense that she is the only aspiring woman National Assembly member in the Midlands province to have made it in the revolutionary party’s break-neck primary elections that were held back in April.
Probably one female cadre from the rustic settlements of Chirumanzu communal areas in the Midlands province to emphatically dismiss the commonly held belief that politics was a gentlemen’s club, by defeating a strong male opponent and incumbent National Assembly member for the constituency, Cde Pedzisai Munanzwi in the party primary elections.
She even did it emphatically; garnering 5 621 votes against Cde Munanzwi’s 1 021 votes during the party primary polls sealing what could be a stiff contest with her cousin come July 30. But if the numbers are anything to go by then her MDC Alliance cousin opponent will be light weight.
The 43-year-old unassuming Cde Rwodzi is the newly found “messiah” of the Chirumanzu community after she embarked on a number of developmental projects in and around Chirumanzu since the beginning of the year laying her foundation for what people should expect in the coming five years if she wins the constituency.
She has become an undisputed hero and an inspiration to many women in politics after she fought and penetrated the male dominated political field to become the only female National Assembly in the revolutionary party in the province that has 22 constituencies.
A successful businesswoman, with a number of retail shops at Fairfields in Chirumanzu, Cde Rwodzi’s political life started when she was very young.
“My father was a war veteran who later became a member of the Zimbabwe National Army and used to tell us about the liberation struggle and his experiences in the struggle. I therefore got to understand the objectives of the liberation struggle and grew up with that in mind. It later matured and bore in me the need to fulfil its values, its ethos and fulfil its spirit,” said the soft spoken Cde Rwodzi.
She said her parents were working in Harare, but would always send them to their rural home in Chirumanzu during school holidays and this was how she got an attachment to her rural Chirumanzu constituency.
At the age of 19, Cde Rwodzi got married to a family which had strong Zanu-PF links where her father-in-law, Cde Aaron Simbanegavi Rwodzi was a Central Committee member.
“My husband’s parents are also from Chirumanzu. They had businesses at Fairfields and from the age of 19, I was camped at Fairfields in Chirumanzu with my in-laws and that was when I really got initiated in the revolutionary party. I became passionate about politics and we would play active roles in Chirumanzu whenever there were party gatherings. We were very active in the party politics since then,” she narrated.
A holder of a Masters degree in Business Administration with Nottingham Trent University in England, Cde Rwodzi said she has now decided to work closely with the Chirumanzu community after she initiated a number of developmental projects.
“I have never lost touch with the Chirumanzu community having born and raised in the area. Since January, we have been doing a number of projects and in all the 12 wards in Chirumanzu constituency, I have managed to sink a borehole in each ward. I have come up with community gardens for women. We have also repaired school blocks and bridges. I believe in politics of action not those lies that other politicians promise people while canvassing for votes,” she said.
Cde Rwodzi said she was confident of romping to victory in the July 30 harmonised elections and has since lined up more developmental projects in the areas. She is however, facing a totally different opponent, Mr Mukashi of MDC Alliance who is also unique in his own right.
Born on 18 April 1981, at St Theresa Mission Hospital in Chirumanzu, Mr Simbarashe Mukashi did his primary school in Chirumanzu at Chapwanya Primary before he did his secondary education at Mushandirapamwe Secondary, again in Chirumanzu.
Soon after completing his secondary school, Mr Mukashi who is living with disability went on to prove that disability does not mean inability when he introduced a moving shop where he would go around the Chirumanzu community selling his wares using a bicycle as his mode of transport. He later moved to neighbouring South Africa where he became a street vendor before returning back home where from his savings he started opening grocery shops.
“I raised money through vending on the streets of South Africa and I later decided to come back home to start businesses.
From those humble beginnings, I am one of the leading businesspersons in Chirumanzu with a chain of businesses at Charandura Business Centre again in Chirumanzu,” said Mr Mukashi. Mr Mukashi said he grew up in the constituency and was pained with the level of underdevelopment in Chirumanzu which he said when elected into office he would change.
“This is why I have decided to run for the National Assembly. I want to change the fortunes of this constituency which is so underdeveloped. We have no roads, we have no clean water sources so these are my priorities if voted to become the representative of the constituency in Parliament,” he said.
