Perpetua Mururungweni
Annah Stambuli, the new councilor for Masvingo RDC’s ward 35 (Renco Mine) could be probably the first woman to win a council seat as an independent candidate in Masvingo Province and one of the few in Zimbabwe if there are any.
Stambuli said she joined the Movement for Democratic Change since its inception in 1999 and later had a stint in the Citizens Coalition for Change when it was formed only to leave the party after the controversial candidate selection process after the party chose an unpopular candidate over her.
“My political journey began in 1999 when I joined MDC under the late Morgan Tsvangirai and I was the only female member in my area those days. I held the position of district secretary and then vice chairperson of MDC in the district.
“I later joined CCC during its formation in 2022 but the party disqualified me in the candidate selection process, a development that forced me to contest as independent,” said Stambuli.
Stambuli said her journey to council chambers was not very hard because of her political experience and the support she had from her ward owing to the number of programmes that she took part in to empower people in Renco Mine.
“For me the journey was not that difficult due to my political experience and the fact that most of my time I volunteered working with organizations like World Health Organization (WHO), distributing mosquito nets around the community and people know my commitment to development that is why they have trust in me.
“I was also the president of Chengetedzo Environmental that worked with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and I am one of the few women who worked hand in hand with our local clinic on immunization programs.
“The work that I did in my community made people to realize and believe in my capabilities to lead them,” said Stambuli.
She vowed to work with the community in every aspect of development and fight corruption in her jurisdiction saying people in her ward deserved that since they refused a councilor whom the party had imposed on them through corruption.
“I am going to try and fight corruption in my ward by any means necessary because I have seen that people from ward 35 are zero tolerant to corruption. They showed me that they stand by the truth and trust me more than the party.
“I am also going to work on women empowerment to educate and urge young women to join and take part in politics,” said Stambuli.
Ward 35 was created in 2008 supposedly to confine opposition supporters from the mining area in one place and make sure that they do not dilute Zanu PF’s suppoters in ward 25.
Since then until 2018, the ward has been held by MDC with its councilor Siyai Neshanje who went on to contest as independent and won in 2018.
He again contested in 2023 as independent only to lose to fellow independent candidate Stambuli.
