THE Zanu PF lovefest rolls into Bulawayo this week for the party’s annual people’s conference.

The annual gathering is another opportunity for the party to flaunt its wealth and flex its muscles after the decimation of the opposition using a tortoise on a lamppost stratagem.

Zanu PF party members will paint the city yellow, green or red, oblivious to the tough economic environment faced by millions of Zimbabweans who are struggling to put food on the table.

They will be throwing out United States dollars like confetti.

Not that the party has deep pockets.

Rather, it leverages its mobilisation prowess by “asking” parastatals and State-owned entities to extend a helping hand.

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There are also rich benefactors that stampede to support Zanu PF since its programmes “resonate with citizens”.

They will be ploughing after bagging lucrative contracts at inflated prices and would “seed” some few dollars knowing there are more contracts along the way.

The run-up to this year’s annual gathering had been punctuated by calls to amend the Constitution for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his tenure beyond the constitutionally-mandated five-year two-term limits, which his ends in 2028.

Loyalists, coalescing around the ED2030 campaign, have been burning midnight oil saying Mnangagwa’s tenure must be extended for him to complete “his vision”.

Mnangagwa has thrice said he will step down when his tenure ends in 2028 as he wants to go and rest.

Mnangagwa’s administration is driving the Vision 2030 agenda in which Zimbabwe plans to attain an upper middle-income status.

The calls for Mnangagwa to have his tenure extended have been growing louder despite a pushback by some who want the veteran politician to live up to his word that he would go and rest at the end of his term in 2028.

The ED2030 brigade has indicated that it would use the annual people’s conference to railroad a resolution that paves the way for an amendment of the Constitution for Mnangagwa to extend his tenure.

For thousands of Zanu PF supporters, they will come face-to-face with Bulawayo’s water crisis.

The crisis is showing no signs of abating after the punishing water-shedding exercise was extended to 130 hours from 120 hours per week.

This means that residents can access water from their taps for one-and-a-half days per week.

The water crisis has exposed the lack of long-term planning by the local authority and government’s reluctance to resolve the crisis despite claims to the contrary.

There have been calls for the government to declare the Bulawayo water crisis a state of disaster which would help in marshalling resources.

The calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears.

Early this month, Bulawayo was forced to decommission Upper Ncema Dam due to critical water levels after falling to 2,03%, rendering it unusable and non-operational.

It became the second dam to be decommissioned after Umzingwane Dam suffered a similar fate last November when it fell to 2,14%.

Bulawayo water is drawn from six supply dams, which also include Insiza, Inyankuni, Lower Ncema and Mtshabezi, all whose dam percentages as of October 2 this year was 28,16%.

The more than century-old Matabeleland Zambezi Water Project, mooted by the first colonial authorities, is seen as the lasting solution to the water crisis.

However, the mega project appears to have been abandoned, likely to resume in the run-up to the 2028 elections.

Bulawayo Senator Collet Ndlovu last month appealed to the government to redirect devolution funds for the completion of the Gwayi-Shangani Dam, a key plank in bringing water to Bulawayo.

As in the past will that appeal, too fall on deaf ears?
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