Zanu-PF primaries a success, says Ziyambi

THE Zanu-PF provincial leadership in Mashonaland West Province has described the just-ended primary elections as a huge success.

However, voting in the outstanding Zvimba North constituency would be finalised this weekend, according to provincial chairman Ziyambi Ziyambi.

Ziyambi said the elections were a key step in improving the party's internal democratic process.

"By and large, these were hugely successful elections, which showed that democracy is alive in the party and this was a positive step in strengthening the process," he said.

"We have results from all the centres except for Zvimba North, where elections were not held. We expect the process of voting to be completed by this Saturday."

The elections, he said, had seen a lot of upsets and the coming in of new faces in several constituencies in the province.

"There is a mix of the old and the new, which will hopefully make Parliament exciting and progressive.

"We have youths coming in constituencies such as Hurungwe North and Central, Kariba, Sanyati and Zvimba East among others," he said.

Ziyambi said various weaknesses were noted during the process, including late delivery of ballot material and use of contestants' vehicles to deliver the material.

He said the cell verification process was not completed, which created challenges during voting as some people tried to manipulate the registers in their favour.

In any contest, he said, complaints were inevitable as losers would not always take defeat well.

National elections committee representative in the province Sydney Nyanungo is on record saying they will recommend a rerun in some areas owing to allegations of fraud and misconduct by some contestants.

Several party heavyweights in the province, including Rueben Marumahoko (Hurungwe North), Douglas Mombeshora (Mhangura), Faber Chidarikire (Chinhoyi) and Isaac Mackenzie have fallen by the wayside.