G40 disputes election

The Zanu-PF faction which is rabidly opposed to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding President Robert Mugabe is fighting to have the result of the party's Masvingo leadership election at the weekend nullified, after its candidate boycotted the poll.

This comes as the contestant who quit the poll at the last minute, Mutero Masanganise - who is linked to the embattled Generation 40 (G40) camp - confirmed to the Daily News yesterday that he would be taking his matter up with the party's legal department, with a view to having the election invalidated.

In the hotly-disputed poll, Masanganise was crushed by alleged Team Lacoste kingpin, Ezra Chadzamira, who polled 29 543 votes against his measly 1 080 votes.

But the fuming Masanganise accused some politburo members yesterday of having allegedly connived with his rivals in the volatile province to "engineer" his downfall.

"I made it clear before, that I will follow the party's procedures as I respect the party's constitution. I am going to submit my letter (of objection) to the party's legal department.

"I think those who voted for me were voting for a ghost because I was not part of that election. There were some senior members who were campaigning for my opponent.

"I said it before that the use of my name was mischievous, illegal and scandalous. It is important to note that I was never a party to the manipulated process.

"To me there was no election at all. Those 1 080 votes they gave me were done to justify their manipulated process.

"Even if you look at these elections, there are many anomalies and I am also going to put all this in my letter to the legal department.

"We want to unite as Zanu-PF for the good of our party ahead of the 2018 elections. I am surprised by the number of people who are said to have voted because in most areas people refused to participate in this election," Masanganise told the Daily News.

Emotions have been running high in the fractious province ever since Mugabe and the politburo nullified the results from the initial regional poll, which was won by Chadzamira - amid claims of irregularities, including people not voting in some districts.

Chadzamira, who is the former regional chairperson and an alleged Mnangagwa backer, crushed Masanganise then - polling 12 393 votes against his opponent's 4 888, amid allegations of rigging and failure by people in Mwenezi and some parts of Chiredzi to vote.

The politburo later nullified the result and ordered a re-run, to allow districts that had not voted a chance to cast their votes.

The run-up to Saturday's election was also marred by allegations of intimidation made by Masanganise and the G40, who claimed that military and intelligence personnel had allegedly campaigned for Chadzamira, amid palpable tension in the restive province.

Last week, the Daily News reported accurately that beleaguered G40 bigwigs had, as a counter strategy, enlisted the services of a shadowy group known as "Province 2017", as they desperately tried to have the crucial plebiscite cancelled.

The G40 has for some time now been described as being "at sixes and sevens", following the pressure that has been brought to bear on its leading national figures, as well as the suspension of its alleged provincial kingpins who were ousted from the regional executive last month.

Sources have also previously told the Daily News that Zanu-PF's ever-fluid factional and succession politics were changing gear again, as there was now an apparent realignment of alliances within the warring former liberation movement - as Mnangagwa's allies cranked up their assault on the G40.