Kudakwashe Bhasikiti and Joosbi Omar
…says Islam has no place in Mwenezi
Upenyu Chaota
27 Feb 2017, MASVINGO – Aspiring Mwenezi East legislator, Kudakwashe Bhasikiti recently made a religion jibe against one of his opponents, Zanu PF’s Joosbi Omar, saying his Muslim faith was not welcome in Mwenezi.
Speaking outside the nomination court which sat at Masvingo Magistrates Court last Friday, Bhasikiti said while everyone has freedom of religion, Zimbabwe remains largely Christian and those who differ will find it hard to earn popular appeal.
Omar is a practising Muslim and Bhasikiti’s insinuations were meant to smear him as an outsider ahead of the parliamentary by-election pencilled for April 8.
“My colleague here subscribes to a certain religion which is yet to be established in Mwenezi and people will be scared to follow that religion.
“Mwenezi people are Christians and they subscribe to Christian values so any foreign body will be difficult to sell,” said Bhasikiti.
He also said ZimPF was strong in Mwenezi and will win the by-election with a wide margin.
When asked to respond to the jibe, Omar criticised Bhasikiti for “stooping so low” and “dwelling on such trivialities as one’s religion” instead of talking development.
“Why would anyone stoop so low? Everyone is entitled to their own religion so this will not affect our chances in Mwenezi because the people have already endorsed me in the primaries. The votes I got in the primaries mean the people of Mwenezi are behind the ruling party.
“I have never brought in the issue of religion in my campaign and I cannot change anybody into practising what they don’t want. People know what they want and if they feel that my behaviour merits a win, they will elect me regardless of my religion,” said Omar.
In the Zanu PF primaries held on February 14, Omar polled 5 901 out of 11 986 votes cast. The rest of the votes were shared by the remaining 12 candidates who participated.
Besides Omar and Bhasikiti, the nomination court also approved Welcome Masuku of National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) and Mango Turner of Free Zimbabwe Congress to contest in the by-election.top news
