Harare East by-elections double candidates divides Zanu-PF

ZANU-PF will this week deal with the case of double candidates in Harare East for the June 10 by-election after the High Court ruled that Terrance Mukupe, who had been asked to stand down, is still the party's representative.

Mukupe approached the High Court after Zanu-PF secretary for administration Ignatius Chombo wrote to the Nomination Court requesting for the withdrawal of his candidature in favour of Mavis Gumbo.

Mukupe, who had won the primary election and had a letter of confirmation to the Nomination Court written by party secretary for the Commissariat Saviour Kasukuwere, had already successfully filed his papers when he was disqualified.

He approached the High Court which ruled that his papers were in order and there was no basis for the Nomination Court to reject them.

Kasukuwere told our Harare Bureau yesterday that the matter would be dealt with this week for the party to remain with one candidate in the constituency.

He did not give a specific day and which party organ would deal with the matter, but such cases are usually tabled before the Politburo.

Said Kasukuwere: "It (the matters) will be dealt with this week."

This comes in the wake of allegations by the party's Harare youth league that Kasukuwere was using his influential position in the party to impose Mukupe.

Kasukuwere refused to comment on the allegations by the Harare youths, insisting that the matter of double representation would be dealt with this week.

Zanu-PF Youth League provincial chairperson Godwin Gomwe said Mukupe's candidature was rejected by the party's provincial election directorate, but for some unknown reasons, Kasukuwere overturned that.

He said Mukupe had no history in the party and it was surprising that Kasukuwere was pushing such kind of a person to represent the party in Parliament.

"Why is (Cde) Kasukuwere the only one supporting (Cde) Mukupe?" said Gomwe. "He has never voted in any Zanu-PF primary election and any other general election since he was born.

"How is it possible for us to trust a 39-year-old candidate who has never voted for Zanu-PF that he claims to belong to? Should we sit back and watch Kasukuwere using his post and influence to create confusion in our province by pursuing his agenda using political amateurs like Terrance (Mukupe)?

"As youths of Harare province, we believe in one centre of power that's RG Mugabe who is the First Secretary of the revolutionary party. We don't care who supports (Cde) Mukupe. Whoever supports (Cde) Mukupe is against the founding principles of Zanu-PF."

Gomwe said Mukupe was the first person in Zanu-PF to drag the party to the courts and the only candidate who wanted to stand on the party ticket without having been in the party's structures since birth.

He said Mukupe should follow protocol and use the party in his quest for power.

Gomwe said money should never be used to acquire positions in the party.

"We ousted (Joice) Mujuru because she thought money was everything in politics," he said. "This is the same route that Mukupe wants to take and we say no to that.

"Should we sacrifice our good and clear Zanu-PF constitution because of money that Terrance is splashing to our intelligent electorate?"

The by-election would be held together with 15 others in different parts of the country.

Of the 16 vacant seats to be filled on the day, 14 became vacant after the MDC-T withdrew its legislators who had crossed the floor to join the Renewal Team, a faction of the opposition party.

Two of the seats, in Headlands and Hurungwe West, fell vacant after former Zanu-PF secretary for Administration Didymus Mutasa and his nephew Temba Mliswa were expelled from the party for carrying out nefarious activities.