Zanu-PF going to do yet another rerun of its primary elections

Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF is going to do yet another rerun of its primary elections in some areas as it battles to overcome intensifying factionalism and  internal strife amid failure to run its own polls properly ahead of general elections in August.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is battling rising factionalism and growing fears of "bhora musango" (sabotage from within).

A number of party political bigwigs, some of them prominent Mnangagwa allies, lost the primaries.

Mike Bimha, the Zanu-PF political national commissar, wrote a memo to provincial chairpersons yesterday informing them more reruns are coming because primaries were not completed in some areas due to disputes over delimitation boundaries. He also said some uncontested winners have pending court cases, while  there were no absolute winners in some places as the candidates were tied in results.

This follows a recent politburo meeting which endorsed the primary election results and ordered some reruns.

Just like the party itself internally, the Zanu-PF government always struggles to conduct free, fair and credible elections through the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is accused in every poll of rigging and undermining the people's will.