MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has dispatched members of his national standing committee, MPs and other party officials for a rural campaign blitz ahead of the watershed 2018 general elections.

Tsvangirai, who has been criticised for failing to harness the rural vote, has pushed his party machinery to penetrate Zanu PF strongholds with rallies being held in President Robert Mugabe’s rural Zvimba, led by secretary for elections Murisi Zwizwai.

Youth assembly leader Happymore Chidziva was in Chitekete, Gokwe, this week leading rallies and voter registration campaigns ahead of the compilation of a new biometric voter register (BVR).

“We are taking the campaigns to so-called Zanu PF strongholds to carry the message of hope and change. The most important part of our campaigns is to ensure that people register to vote, defend their vote and defeat a Zanu PF regime that has brought nothing, but suffering in their lives for 37 years,” Chidziva said.

Party presidential affairs secretary Sesil Zvidzai, who is leading campaigns in Midlands’ Vungu rural area, was also upbeat, saying the party was speaking with disgruntled war veterans who have been Mugabe’s vanguard declaring resettlement and rural areas no-go areas for opposition supporters.

MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu confirmed the new rural areas thrust, saying his party was ready to face the beast in the eye.