Ineligible candidate wins Zanu-PF primaries

Zanu-PF Mashonaland East province yesterday conducted a rerun of its primary elections in ward 13, Wedza South, after it emerged that the winner, Trust Mabika, was ineligible.

Mabika, an ex-soldier, won resoundingly during the party's primary elections held on January 21, but was disqualified after it emerged that his name was not on the voters' roll in the ward where he was elected as the Zanu-PF candidate.

The ruling party had to conduct fresh elections yesterday ahead of today's nomination court sitting.

In a notice, Zanu-PF's Wedza district co-ordinating committee secretary for legal affairs, Itayi Ndudzo, confirmed the mishap and informed party members of the rerun of the
polls.

"On Friday January 21, 2022, we held a primary election in Zviyambe ward to choose a candidate to represent our party in the forthcoming by-elections set for March 26, 2022.

"It has since been established that the candidate who won the primary election does not meet the requirements set in the Electoral Act to stand as a candidate in the election. In particular, the candidate is not on the voters' roll for the particular ward as his transfer to be a voter in the ward was done after closure of the voters' roll," the notice read.

Ndudzo said the province had given them a nod to conduct a rerun.

"Please note that section 121A(3) of the Electoral Act states that for ward by-elections, the voters' roll closes on the day a vacancy arises, which in our case is the day we lost the late Councillor Matema. There is no exemption, waiver, compromise or any other way to alter this position of the law," he said.

"Having raised the issue with the provincial hierarchy, we have been given a directive to conduct a fresh by-election (rerun) tomorrow January 25, 2022 as the nomination court is scheduled for January 26, 2022."

Zanu-PF provincial vice-chairperson Kudzai Majuru confirmed the incident yesterday.