Zanu PF bigwigs suffer shocking defeats

Many political bigwigs in President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF suffered shocking defeats in the July 30 National Assembly elections even as votes were still being counted.

Ministers Chris Mutsvangwa, Patrick Chinamasa, his deputy Terrence Mukupe, ex-War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube and Petronella Kagonye lost their parliamentary strongholds.

While the preliminary results from different parts of the country had mostly good news for the ruling Zanu-PF, it brought bad news for many top Zanu-PF leaders who bit the dust in the polls.

Results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission showed Zanu-PF with 144 seats, MDC Alliance 61, the National Patriotic Front one while independent candidate Temba Mliswa snapped the Norton seat.

Notable among the bigwigs who failed to make it into the 9th Parliament are President Mnangagwa's special advisor and long-serving Zanu-PF stalwart Mutsvangwa who was hammered Mliswa.

Mutsvangwa polled 4 255 votes behind Samuel Matemera of MDC Alliance who polled 7850, while Mliswa won by a massive 16 847.

Ironically Mutsvangwa, who initially lost Zanu-PF primary elections before he was controversially declared the bona fide party candidate, had warned that Mnangagwa risked losing the election allegedly because the party's national political commissar Engelbert Rugeje had failed to handle the internal polls, resulting in disgruntlement.

Another bigwig who lost was former Finance minister Chinamasa, who lost the Makoni Central seat to David Tekeshe of the MDC Alliance. Chinamasa polled 9 256 votes against Tekeshe's 12 531.

Chinamasa's deputy,  Mukupe,  was not spared the electoral axe either as he lost the Harare East seat he had won in a by-election in 2014 following Biti's expulsion from the MDC after he broke away from the then MDC led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.

In Bulawayo's Makokoba constituency, former War Veterans minister Tshinga Dube polled 3989 to lose to James  Sithole of the MDC-Alliance
who garnered 7 365.

In Mashonaland East province, the minister of Labour and Social Welfare Petronella Kagonye was defeated in Goromonzi South by Reuben Chikudo of the MDC Alliance.

Kagonye polled 18 821 while the opposition alliance's Chikudo managed 34 243 votes. Jaison Passade, the ex-legislator for Mount Pleasant lost the seat to MDC Alliance candidate Samuel Banda. Banda, who polled 9 357, beat Passade who polled 5 295 and independent candidate and lawyer, Fadzayi Mahere.