Bulawayo gets least seats in Zanu-PF's central committee

ZANU-PF Bulawayo province has been allocated the least number of extra seats in the party's Central Committee following the province's dismal performance during the July 2013 harmonised elections, Sunday News has learnt.

According to a circular from the party's national commissariat which was dispatched to all provinces, Bulawayo was allocated one extra seat in the Central Committee, while other provinces such as Mashonaland Central got as many as 34 extra seats.

Each province has been allocated 10 seats in the party's supreme decision making body, with the extra seats being allocated on the basis of each province's performance in the 2013 harmonised election.

Bulawayo will have 11 representatives in the central committee.

Zanu-PF failed to secure a single parliamentary seat in Bulawayo and lost all local authority seats to the opposition MDC-T during the election in which President Mugabe routed MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai.

Yesterday, the party's provincial executive council met at Davies Hall to discuss how the province would go about the selection of candidates to fill the 11 slots allocated to the province in the Central Committee.

Speaking to Sunday News after the meeting, Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial secretary for information and publicity Christopher Sibanda said the meeting had resolved to divide the province into five areas, with each area expected to provide two candidates. He said elections for Central Committee candidates would be held this coming week in the respective areas, pointing out that the criteria to select the extra candidate was yet to be defined.

"It is not a secret that we didn't do well in the harmonised elections, which is why we got one extra seat, when other provinces got more. I will not discuss other provinces, but will focus on Bulawayo.

"Party members will meet in their respective area next weekend to select candidates who will fill in the slots," he said.

Meanwhile, graduates from the National Youth Service and students from various tertiary institutions across the country are expected to meet First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe in Mazowe in Mashonaland Central tomorrow.

Zanu-PF Bulawayo provincial youth chairperson Khumbulani Mpofu, who is also a graduate of the National Youth Service programme, told Sunday News that youths from the province were expected to leave Bulawayo today for Mazowe where they will meet their counterparts from other parts of the country.

He said the agenda of the meeting was to re-affirm the youth's support of the First Lady's nomination to lead Zanu-PF's Women's League.

"We are going to Mazowe to endorse the First Lady as the First Secretary of the Women's League. As youths we have endorsed her in the past and this time around we would want to reaffirm our support for the First Lady. We hope the meeting will also give us an opportunity to discuss with the First Lady other issues that affect us as youth," he said.