Chipinge Candidate Profile Series #1 

Chipinge South Constituency

Chipinge South Constituency is located in the extreme south of the Manicaland Province, bordering on Mozambique to the east and south, and is found along the highway from Tanganda Halt on the way to Chiredzi. It comprises of 6 wards, namely ward 24, 26, 27, 28, 29 and ward 30 with 32 polling stations. The Constituency has a voter population of 24 415. The candidate profile series # 1 will focus on three candidates from Zanu PF, MDC Alliance and NCA. In coming up with this Candidate Profile Series, PYD believes that it is a natural and inherent right to every citizen to vote from an informed position by virtue of the voter’s membership of the District.

Name: Enock Porusingazi

Party: Zanu PF

Current Member of the House of National Assembly.

Enock Porusingazi is a seasoned politician in Chipinge South Constituency having contested in 2005, 2008, 2013 and now the 2018 elections. In the previous elections, he polled 8302 votes ahead of Meki Makuyana of MDC – T who polled 5764. His strongest showing was in ward 24 and ward 26 where he polled 1877 and 2241 votes respectively, whereas he performed badly in ward 27 and ward 30 where he garnered a combined vote of 129.

Enock Porusingazi went through a rigorous Primary election process where two factors contributed to his victory, and these include vote buying and the busing of people from outside the constituency. He overcame the challenge from Wilson Tarugarira Khumbula, Angeline Hobwana, Leonard Makwambeni and Hoyini Bhila. His opponents cried out citing serious procedural violations of the party’s laid down electoral laws. The primary elections were heavily compromised by money bags which Enock Porusingazi used to his advantage whilst his opponents found it very difficult to compete against. At the same time, the primary elections proved beyond reasonable doubt the fact that Zanu PF failed to adopt a system that allow party members to participate in decision-making and create an unhindered opportunity to contest in elections within the party’s platform. This could be attributed to the competitive nature of the electoral environment where most of the contestants were seasoned politicians in the constituency. Internal democracy in Zanu PF as a concept seems to be honored more in the breach of their laid down procedures as primitive considerations such as avarice, greed, nepotism and outright inordinate ambition by Enock Porusingazi continued to be elevated over and above the wishes of the people. The resultant effect of the outcry was a decision to conduct a rerun in the constituency.   

The rerun was conducted and again Enock Porusingazi came out the winner, this time with a bigger margin. His trump card is rooted firmly in his skill and political dexterity in the circumvention of rules and other acts prejudicial to the tenets of internal democracy. His campaign was premised on the message “HAMBAI NEDHODHA RAMAKAJAIRA MWEIDA KUGUTA” literally meaning that he is advocating for a system of benevolence anchored on a patronage ideology. Enock Porusingazi is a perennial survivor against purging within his own party. In 2014, he survived a purging of a faction led by the then Vice President Joice Mujuru. He was only slapped with a suspension which was later lifted. The  suspension prompted some of his opponents within the party to rope in Wilson Khumbula from Zanu Ndonga in a move viewed as a replacement for Porusingazi. However, the political dynamics changed when the suspension was indefinitely lifted and gave Porusingazi a new lease of life. Again, in 2017, during the so-called Operation Restore Legacy Porusingazi survived as he was constantly regarded as key member of the G40 faction. Most people in the constituency view him as a political elite due to his vast business interests within the Constituency, and therefore party politics is subsequently viewed as a contestation for political power between or among the political elites. In turn, Enock Porusingazi becomes a beneficiary of disengagement from the political processes by the community.

Having won the ticket to represent Zanu PF in the July 30 2018 Elections, Enock Porusingazi is reminded of his track record as the current sitting Member of the House of Assembly. In Chipinge South Constituency, the most vulnerable members of the population are the women, children and the elderly who suffer as the result of social injustice arising from Greenfuel. As soon as he was elected in the 2013 harmonised elections, Enock Porusingazi banned DEPIC, a community platform for engagement with Greefuel. This made it impossible for the community to engage the business entity on issues to do with displacement, land encroachment and water pollution. Crop yields in the constituency are generally poor and people have to rely on humanitarian organisations for food aid, an issue the he has been using on partisan basis. With the shenanigans of Greenfuel, the impoverishment of the community becomes an issue of concern that needs political answer.

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