Taurai Masamba

The people of Mutasa Central constituency are not happy with their legislator, Trevor Saruwaka of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), who has represented them in Parliament for nearly 10 years, with no meaningful development on the ground.

The matter was brought to the fore by the UK-based Destiny Media Group Chief Executive officer, Gilbert Nyambabvu when he recently posted on his Facebook page about his childhood acquaintance, Innocent Benza’s intention to contest for the seat during the 2023 harmonised general elections. Saruwaka beat Benza in the 2023 polls.

“One of my home constituencies - Mutasa Central - has become a marginal seat over the years. Trevor Saruwaka has held (the) constituency a long time - perhaps too long - edging it for the opposition. His problem and potential undoing this time is that he's been there too long,” posted Nyambabvu.

Other constituents also agreed that it was time Saruwaka paved way for other candidates.

“I also feel its time also Saruwaka passes the button to another person and still walk in together, he has served his time...” said a Facebook user who identified himself as Chizz TheBoss.

Responding to Chizz TheBoss, Nyambabvu stressed that Saruwaka should consider giving a chance to other people during next year’s elections.

“The Boss agree with you, it's time for Trevor to move on; public service is a shared responsibility,” he posted.

The dreadlocked legislator has neither initiated any development projects in the constituency nor contributed meaningfully in Parliament. The only time that his constituents heard of him was when he was barred from entering the Parliament building in October 2016, when he turned up in a multi-coloured fashion jacket with colours associated with both the Zimbabwean flag and Rastafarianism, for the official opening of the Fourth Session of the Eighth Parliament.

Some constituents, who spoke to this publication on condition of anonymity, said that, like most CCC legislators, Saruwaka only becomes active in the constituency during the election campaign time. They indicated that the only development which they saw was the rehabilitation of some roads, which was initiated by Government under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP).