Mujuru's party clears air on polls

Former vice-president Joice Mujuru's National People's Party (NPP) has set tomorrow as the deadline for submissions from its members aspiring to contest for the opposition party's top six positions.

The NPP is currently run by an interim administration headed by Mujuru and is set to hold its inaugural convention early next month to select a substantive leadership ahead of the 2018 general elections.

"The party is currently taking submissions from aspiring candidates to contest for the positions of president, two vice-presidents, national chairperson, secretary-general and treasurer-general," Mujuru said in a statement yesterday.

She was responding to unofficial reports making rounds on social media that the party's top six positions have already been filled before the inaugural elective convention.

"The deadline for the submission of papers is Monday March 13 2017 and members interested in contesting for the above posts are called to submit their applications before the deadline date," Mujuru said.

"Members who would have successfully lodged their papers will be given between March 13 and 25 2017 to campaign throughout the country."

She said provinces will now hold their provincial elective conventions on March 25 to allow ample time for aspiring candidates to campaign.

"The proceedings will be guided by our constitution through the national elections directorate," Mujuru said.

"Party members should dismiss recent online media reports that positions have already been filled before our democratic process of leadership choice has been allowed to give us leaders from the people, chosen by the people."

She said NPP was a democratic party, which believed in the sanctity of electoral democracy both intra and inter-party.

"As such, reports that there are preferred candidates for any position who have been shielded away from direct election from the people are mischievous, untrue and bent on discrediting the democratic process that we have put in place to elect our leaders," the NPP leader said.

She said party members vying for the top six positions should follow due process and know that the responsibility to elect leadership lies with the people, not some appointing figure somewhere.

"We believe our elections will be democratic and peaceful and would demonstrate that we are builders of Zimbabwe in peace," the former vice-president said.

Mujuru was the leader of Zimbabwe People First until early this month when she changed the party name to NPP after severing ties with founding elders Rugare Gumbo and Didymus Mutasa. She accused the two and five other party stalwarts of plotting against her.