By James Muonwa l Mashonaland West Correspondent
A VERITABLE battle of titans is looming this weekend in Zanu PF primary elections to choose a candidate to represent Makonde constituency, where incumbent Member of Parliament (MP), Kindness Paradza, squares off against youthful William Chaitezvi.
Another contestant in the race is incumbent Makonde Rural District Council chairman and Ward 9 Councillor, Simbarashe Ziyambi, who hopes to leverage on his achievements in the local authority to win votes.
The trio successfully submitted curriculum vitaes (CVs) and sailed through vetting processes making them eligible to stand in the potentially bruising plebiscite.
In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, Chaitezvi (40) expressed confidence he would cause one of the major upsets in the upcoming internal polls leveraging on his vast experience in strategic leadership positions.
Chaitezvi is co-founder of Empower Bank, a director with a logistics company, a parastatal board member and also has links with Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC).
He accused the sitting MP of neglecting the constituency and failing to spearhead meaningful developmental projects, thereby making Makonde one of the most underdeveloped constituencies in Zimbabwe.
“Makonde remains one of the most underdeveloped constituencies in the country because we have allowed Paradza to remain MP for far too long. We now need a strategist to bring development home.
“His time is up, and needs to pass on the baton. This time l have done my homework and the electorate is firmly behind my candidature. I am confident of winning the primary and the general election” said the soft-spoken aspiring MP.
Chaitezvi narrowly lost to Paradza in the 2018 Zanu PF primaries.
However, he contends winning against Paradza is a surmountable task in the wake of his waning popularity.
“People in Makonde have for too long endured many problems which include poor roads and lack of dams since it is a dry area and they believe Paradza, as MP, has not lobbied for infrastructural development to take shape here.
“The other issue is of schools like Runene Secondary, Kanyaga Primary and many others which are collapsing whilst the MP is turning a blind eye to those issues affecting his constituency.”
The parliamentary hopeful also raised concern over Nyare Bridge in Obva, which was washed away by heavy rains years ago and has never been rehabilitated.
According to Chaitezvi, the electorate from Obva, Kenzamba, Godzi, Kamhonde is saying “no construction of Nyare Bridge, no votes for Paradza.”
Among notable projects that Chaitezvi has bankrolled using personal funds include construction of public toilets at Kenzamba and repair of borehole at Kemupfuti, which had not been working for three years.
He also spearheaded a cattle dipping programme and donated building materials for the construction of an ECD block at Nyamatsito.
Contacted to shed light on the ground that he has covered ahead of the primary elections amidst stiff competition, Paradza dismissed Chaitezvi and Ziyambi labelling them “pretenders”.
“The campaign is going on very well, l am actually on the ground in the constituency. Remember, l defeated Chaitezvi in 2018, l am going to beat him again this time around.
“As for Ziyambi, what has he done as Makonde RDC chairman that can warrant election as MP? These are just pretenders, l am not moved by their candidature,” Paradza told NewZimbabwe.com.
