Chamisa scores own goals

CONFUSION and chaos characterised opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party's nomination process at the Harare Magistrate Court.

The party's nomination finalization was still on going after lunch time despite the court's 1600hrs closing time.

Confusion rocked the candidates selection process with some candidates confirming to have filed nomination papers with the court despite claims by the party's spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, that there were some challenges pertaining to signatories required in the procedure.

CCC's candidate nomination process only started moving forward after 1600 hours with most of the candidates being cleared by the party's election officer, Ellen Shiriyedenga in court after the doors were closed.

In contrast, by 1100hrs Zanu-PF had finished filling their candidates nomination papers.

For CCC, by 1800hrs, the party was in sixes and sevens as some members were now being turned away for late submissions.

One such candidate who was turned away is the youth quota representative Takudzwa Ngadziore.

Sources revealed that this was due to the issue of signatories that were required for the nomination process.

He later filed his nomination papers after some interventions by Chamisa's lawyer Thabani Mpofu.

In another incident, the supposedly selected candidate for Chitungwiza St Mary's Freddy Masarirevhu was rumoured to have been replaced by Brighton Mazhinda.

However during the filling of papers, Masarirevhu's name was called and when inquired about his whereabouts, sources revealed that he was home unaware that he had been considered.

Prior to the mayhem, Mahere had cleared air on the hiccups saying the party had tended to the requirements demanded by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) despite having gone for months claiming to be doing a selection process and making sure the candidates met the requisites.

"The reason for the delays was that ZEC wanted confirmation of specimen signatures and so we quickly liaised with the electorate directorate we got the required correspondence from Councillor Ian Makone who is the head of the elections directorate and as soon as that was brought to ZEC they saw that all our papers were in order," Mahere said.

Speaking to journalists at the Magistrate's court, the outgoing CCC MP for Chitungwiza South, Maxwell Mavhunga, downplayed the party's lack of preparedness.

"The process was smooth. We have no complaints against the way it was done by ZEC. There was a mix up of signatures that came to ZEC against the signatures that were on forms," he said.

"The signatures that went to ZEC some of them were not brought here and when we went in the morning ZEC said the signatures they had were not the ones on our forms but apparently our staff had gone with the required signatures but the unfortunate thing is that they were not scanned here at court."

Kuwadzana East MP Charlton Hwende claimed the process was slow due to the high number of nominees being served by ZEC.

"The issue of signatures is just hearsay, it's just that there are a lot of people who are being served inside but I am sure everything will be sorted out."

Unconfirmed reports stated that at the close of the nomination courts, CCC had failed to field seven ward candidates in Zibagwe and one in Murewa.

More reports also indicated that the opposition party had also failed to field 12 ward candidates in Takawira Rural District Council, in Gwanda 1 and 2, Insiza ward 14 and 20.