Zanu-PF to hold seven provincial elections in one day

Zanu-PF has resolved to hold provincial executive elections in its seven remaining provinces simultaneously, in one day, to ensure a smooth process while President Mugabe chided some party leaders for pursuing selfish interests.

The resolution was passed at last Friday's 94th Ordinary Session of the Zanu-PF Central Committee, which also directed that "mistakes made in the provincial elections that have been held so far should be pointed out and corrected".

This follows compelling submissions to the Central Committee which pointed to apparent and serious irregularities around the manner in which Manicaland and the Midlands elections were held.
The polls took several days to complete.

In its resolutions, the Central Committee √¢‚Ǩ‚Äú Zanu-PF's policy and law-making body in between congresses  said the preparatory processes for the elections would be synchronised. The decision will affect Bulawayo, Harare, Masvingo, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland North and Matabeleland South.

Mashonaland Central proceeded with its polls yesterday since the programme had already been confirmed before the Central Committee meeting.

In his closing remarks to the meeting, President Mugabe bemoaned the fact that the national leadership was becoming "half-hearted about party activities" and reminded them that "there are rules to be followed and a Constitution to be followed".

"It's not the views of the Politburo that should prevail but the interpretation of the party's Constitution by the Politburo. Isu muno ndisu tirikuwuraya musangano," said the President.
"People must vote according to the wishes of the party and not according to the wishes of individual leaders. We got to get ourselves to be organised."

Mugabe affirmed the supremacy of the Central Committee, telling its members that while the Politburo was the party's executive organ, "the Central Committee stands for Congress".

"As a forum of accountability, it is the body that should not only supervise what the Politburo is doing but also a legislative body that can make and unmake rules," said President Mugabe.

"And so, when we look at how the Politburo conducted the provincial elections in Manicaland and the Midlands provinces, the Central Committee is entitled to point out where mistakes were made and insist on the correction of those mistakes."

Zanu-PF has so far held provincial executive elections in Manicaland and the Midlands where some contestants pointed out irregularities in the manner in which the polls were conducted. The elections in Mashonaland West had to be cancelled following similar complaints.

In the past, the elections were held concurrently. However, the Commissariat department departed from that practice, opting instead to stagger them.

Meanwhile, Zanu-PF national spokesperson Rugare Gumbo has described as an abomination and taboo the move by party officials in Kwekwe to file a criminal defamation lawsuit against the party's Midlands provincial chairman Jason Machaya.

Central Committee member, Auxillia Mnangagwa, July Moyo, Douglas Tapfuma, former provincial secretary for security, Owen Ncube and Zhombe legislator, Mackenzie Ncube filed a $50 million criminal defamation lawsuit against Machaya on Tuesday last week.

The lawsuit emanates from a petition written by Machaya's chief election agent, Douglas Kanengoni, accusing the five senior party members of attempting to influence the outcome of the just ended provincial executive elections, in favour of Larry Mavhima, who was vying for the provincial chairmanship.

In their lawsuit, the five party officials claim that Kanengoni's allegations in the petition were defamatory and had the potential of destroying their political careers.

Speaking to Sunday News yesterday, Gumbo said the move by the five party officials to claim defamation damages against a fellow party member was a non-event and against party procedures as enshrined in the constitution.

He said the five officials should have used internal party processes to air their grievances rather than approaching the courts of law.

Gumbo said the issue of the lawsuit against Machaya was raised at a recent Politburo meeting and members of the party's supreme decision making body agreed that the move was taboo and laughed it off as a non-event.

"We raised the issue during the politburo meeting and we agreed that the move by the five party members was against party procedures.

"Everyone laughed off the move. It's a non-event and the party will not accept a situation where members take each other to court over internal party issues," he said.

Mnangagwa said she did not know anything about the lawsuit before she hung up the phone.