ZANU PF has been forced into a merry-go-round over primary elections as disaffected prospective candidates — among them top officials — have been protesting the skewed process of selection of candidates, forcing the party yesterday to change the date of the internal polls twice in less than 48 hours.
REPORT BY DUMISANI SIBANDA/MOSES MATENGA
As Zanu PF battles to stem discontent, lack of funds and logistical nightmares also contributed to the postponement of the primaries, reducing the internal poll date into ping-pong.
Officials said fights among the different factions in Zanu PF to position themselves to succeed President Robert Mugabe (89) had seen many candidates being disqualified from standing in the primaries.
Some candidates who had been approved by provinces were struck off the lists by the politburo allegedly at the instigation of the pary presidium.
The lists have candidates loyal to Vice-President Joice Mujuru pitted against those linked to Defence minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.
The selection of candidates for the primaries has sparked disputes countrywide as prospective candidates cited irregularities while Zanu PF has had to change the date for primary elections twice in less than 48 hours as it battles to legitimise its push for July 31 polls.
The party, which faces its sternest test in the forthcoming harmonised elections, initially intended to hold its primaries today, but postponed them to Wednesday before settling for tomorrow.
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Party spokesperson Rugare Gumbo confirmed yesterday that the date for primary elections had been brought forward to tomorrow.
“Yes, I can confirm that we are now going to have the primary elections on Tuesday (tomorrow) and that this is because Zec (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) would want to have the names by Wednesday. I can’t comment any further,” Gumbo said.
The primaries to choose party candidates for general elections, have widened fissures in Zanu PF after the presidium reportedly ordered that some party bigwigs should not be contested.
Hundreds of party supporters from Mugabe’s home province of Mashonaland West besieged Zanu PF headquarters in Harare on Friday to protest against what they alleged was imposition of candidates by “chefs”.
Yesterday, provincial election directorates throughout the country sat to hear complaints from party functionaries about irregularities in the vetting process ahead of the primaries amid reports that tempers flew high at Mary Mount Teachers’ College in Mutare where disgruntled members from Manicaland presented their grievances.
The latest development is likely to blight preparation of Zanu PF’s final list of candidates in time for Zec’s deadline.
In Harare’s populous and volatile Mbare suburb, supporters of aspiring candidate Nelson Mashiri accused politburo member Tendai Savanhu of “smuggling” people from farms and out of Harare to vote in the primaries.
Mashiri’s supporters petitioned Zanu PF national chairman Simon Khaya Moyo, who is chairing the National Election Directorate, demanding urgent redress failure of which they would mount legal action against the party.
Part of the petition — which was copied to Mugabe, secretary for administration Didymus Mutasa and political commissar Webster Shamu — read: “It is with unimaginable dismay that we have learnt that some aspiring candidates who have over the years failed the party by repeatedly losing against opposition candidates, due to the perpetration on their part of the said malpractices, are surreptitiously smuggling people from outside the constituencies to come and vote for them in the primaries and thereupon denying the ordinary Mbare residents their democratic right to choose a candidate of their choice.”
The party functionaries added: “We reiterate that in the two Mbare constituencies, there are no cell structures. The purported cell structures are made up of people from outside the constituencies who have no right whatsoever to decide our destiny as Mbare residents. The said cell structures ought therefore to be disbanded and Mbare residents must be allowed to vote using their party cards or at least the voters’ roll must be used in conducting primary elections in the Mbare constituencies.
“Please be advised that if this anomalous situation is not attended to by Tuesday June 25 (tomorrow), it is the intention of the residents to approach the courts on an urgent basis and seek redress, the costs for which shall be claimable from Zanu PF.”
Mashiri’s supporters yesterday claimed they were barred from addressing a campaign rally at Shawasha Grounds by suspected Savanhu followers. Strenuous efforts to contact both Mashiri and Savanhu were fruitless by the time of going to print.
