Chipinge West Constituency
Name: Sibonile Nyamudeza
Party: MDC Alliance
Sibonile Nyamudeza is not new to parliamentary contestation as he was once the MDC – T winning candidate for Chipinge West in the March 2008 elections. He was born at Tanganda in Chipinge on 10 March 1967, and completed his schooling in the same area and went on to obtain a qualification in machine shop engineering, which he obtained in 1987. Nyamudeza joined the MDC in 2002 and assumed the position of ward vice chairperson the same year. In 2008, he competed against Gideon Goko (Zanu PF) and Daniel Tuso (MDC – M) and he won the elections with 12 334 votes. However, in 2013 he polled a total of 5756 votes against 6717 votes for Adam Chimwamurombe of Zanu PF. During the 2008 – 2013 Parliamentary Session, Sibonile Nyamudeza was hardly able to carry out his mandate effectively as his room to work was severely limited, as in March 2012, he was sentenced to 30 days in prison or alternatively pay a fine of US$300.
Chipinge West has 39 polling stations in 6 wards. Sibonile Nyamudeza’s stronghold is ward 3 and ward 16. This year, Nyamudeza overcame stiff competition from a youthful aspirant Oliver Chikumba who had set his sights on the Constituency. After, winning the sole ticket to represent the MDC Alliance, he is now geared for a bruising dogfight against Robert Mhlanga (NCA) and Adam Chimwamurombe (Zanu PF) just to mention a few. Nyamudeza has an incalculable weight of thought and approach in his politics possibly a good deal of this is regarded as the result of a disappointing run in 2013. Sibonile Nyamudeza whose career had seemed finished after he lost in 2013, and now he is positioning himself to lead the MDC Alliance to victory in 2018. He is likely to bank on the rising dissatisfaction of the constituents with Zanu PF as this could provide a chance for him at victory. Some observers in the district point out that Nyamudeza remains popular among the core and conservative party members. He is an acknowledged effective campaigner who can work a crowd with relative ease. However, there has been a change in the demographics of the constituency. The majority of the households rely on farming for their main source of livelihood with a substantial number of households depend on piece jobs for survival and a small number relying on remittances from family and friends. The people in the constituency use an ox-drawn plough whilst the rest use hand hoes for digging. This ultimately affects the crop yield and level of food security in the constituency.
There are deep socio – economic problems and the bruises of a health scare are still vivid. The constituency is prone to cholera outbreak as can be gleaned from the 2008/2009 cholera incident. Between 15 November 2008 and 15 March 2009, the constituency was heavily affected by the outbreak of cholera. The underlying factors that contributed to the outbreak included lack of working boreholes in the area, no adequate latrines and limited access to health care within the constituency. This happened during Nyamudeza’s tenure as the constituency represented in the National House of Assembly. The situation has not yet changed and the area is still prone to a health crisis as most of the underlying factors are still to be addressed.
The sentiments of voters at the July 30 2018 election, especially the small scale banana farmers are of paramount importance. Though Sibonile Nyamudeza triumphed at the party’s primary elections, winning the seat he will need to harness the support of feuding party structures within his constituency. His battle with the oppponents from Zanu PF and NCA and his determination to win may require him to garner both support among the wider Chipinge West community.
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