Impasse at Zanu-PF Politburo meeting

The Zanu-PF Politburo meeting last night reportedly failed to come up with a date for its primary elections amid reports of intense differences over guidelines for the internal polls, unnamed insiders said yesterday.

As a result the meeting is scheduled to continue today.

Sources said the Politburo members were also debating Zanu-PF's presentation to the Sadc extra-ordinary summit that will be held on Saturday to deal with the region's hot spots including Zimbabwe's political crisis.

In an interview with journalists after a four-hour closed door meeting by Politburo, Zanu-PF spokesperson Rugare Gumbo said: "We are still debating the rules and regulations. Hopefully we will finalise on the rules and regulations tomorrow."

Asked what exactly they discussed about the rules and regulations, Gumbo said Politburo looked into such issues as "who qualifies and who does not qualify to stand for the party" in the upcoming elections.

He said the date for primary elections would only be discussed once the party had finalised the rules and regulations.

The Women's League presented a document that Politburo also took time debating.

"Women brought a new document. We had to align it to the legal committee document. We are continuing tomorrow," Gumbo said.

At its last Politburo meeting, the Women's League requested to have a quota of seats reserved for women.

Apart from the rules and regulations, at its meeting today, the Politburo is also expected to debate Zanu-PF's election manisfesto.

A report by national chairman Simon Khaya-Moyo on the probe team he led to assess the party's structures in various provinces, among other issues, would also be discussed.