Political Reporter

In a bid to penetrate ZANU PF strongholds in the rural areas, the MDC Alliance has roped in the services of one of the teachers union, Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) and newly formed Zimbabwe Amalgamated Diaspora Association (ZADA).

A source who spoke to this publication said the MDC Alliance was recruiting rural teachers and rural folks and has tasked ARTUZ to be its foot soldier in the rural areas.

According to the source, ARTUZ was tasked to recruit headmasters and teachers who would stand as MDC Alliance’s parliamentary and local authority candidates in 2023.The MDC Alliance has a belief that teachers are respected opinion leaders in the rural areas, hence their desperate attempt to recruit them to join the party.

In a bid to entice rural headmasters and teachers, ARTUZ would identify rural schools that need financial assistance and donate an assortment of goods to the schools. The goods to be donated will include COVID-19 personal protective equipment, building materials, ICT materials and other equipment as would be requested by the identified schools.

ARTUZ will also pay school fees for students facing financial challenges. The source added that ARTUZ would tell students and parents that the fees were coming from the MDC Alliance, hence they should vote for that party in 2023.The move is expected to lure the rural parents to join the MDC Alliance.

On the other hand, ZADA, which is a group of MDC Alliance members based in the diaspora, plans to establish a model sports academy and their party has already identified Twin Lake private school in Norton to be transformed into a modern academy. The source said ZADA planned to modernize and beautify Twinlake School so that it would be used as a model of schools in the MDC A administration.

The source added that ZADA was also planning to purchase floating boats to operate between Zambia and Zimbabwe in the Kanyemba area. Indications are that the boats would be registered in Zambia and these would be used to host MDC Alliance secret meetings in the middle of the river so as to evade the watchful eyes of the government.

Meanwhile, former Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) Director, Dr Phillan Zamuchiya, who is now lecturing at the University of Western Cape in South Africa, is coordinating fundraising on behalf of the MDC Alliance and is trying to persuade Zimbabweans in South Africa to come home and register to vote. Zamuchiya is engaging bus operators to offer free transport to Zimbabweans who would want to come and register to vote.

Efforts to get a comment from ARTUZ president Obert Masaraure were futile as his mobile phones were not reachable.