Zanu PF aspiring legislator for Epworth North Constituency Taurai Kandishaya has defended President Emmerson Mnangagwa's two million jobs promise saying the ruling party has surpassed the target.
Speaking at a political debate organised by Media Alliance of Zimbabwe and Tell Zimbabwe, Kandishaya argued that the projects embarked on by Mnangagwa's administration over the past five years created employment for 2,7 million people.
The ruling party's Deputy Youth Commissar was responding to a question from one of the attendees who queried the two million jobs promise made in 2018.
According to a first quarter Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) report, more than 2,8 million people of working age are unemployed in the country.
Of the most affected, Matabeleland North has the highest number of unemployed individuals, with the national unemployment (expanded) rate at 46,7%.
"The government bought 800 buses from Belarus, one bus requires a driver and a conductor that is 1600 jobs created," said Kandishaya, arguing that Mnangagwa had created the promised jobs.
"More so, these buses are manned by inspectors, that is one inspector plus an assistant for every 10 buses. There were also mechanics who were hired to repair these buses so that is even more jobs."
He added that Zanu PF is currently constructing roads which in turn have provided employment to the nation.
"We are also constructing Mbire road, we had 210 people employed when we were building the Beitbridge road
"There is also a Mhanize steel plant, there are also 225 houses that were built in Beitbridge and if you have the know-how of construction you would know that when building a house there is the actual builder, carpenter, a surveyor and an engineer.
"We also managed to create employment for our teachers who we sent to Rwanda. So if you look at all these projects you will see that there has been employment all over.
"If you look at the Robert Mugabe airport expansion, if there used to be 10 employees now that number has gone to more than 100 because of the expansion. If you have time we could sit down and I will show you that we created 2,7 million jobs," he said.
