'Biti was rigged to make way for Chamisa sympathiser'

FORMER Cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo has claimed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) legislator Tendai Biti's recent loss to fellow Member of Parliament (MP) Allan ‘Rusty' Markham was rigged.

The two went toe-to-toe in a gruelling battle for an opportunity to represent CCC at this year's elections.

Biti, a former Finance Minister and key cog in Parliament's fight against corruption was defeated in the two wards that make up Harare East Constituency which will now be represented by Markham.

He got 338 nominations against Markham's 392.

Moyo, who has been in exile for close to five years after being chased out of the country by President Emmerson Mnangagwa's New Dispensation, said Markham had coerced his workers from within the constituency into choosing him.

He claimed Markham had conspired with ‘powers that be' in the CCC to facilitate his triumph over Biti.

"In his underhanded campaign to be selected as CCC's candidate for Harare East with its new electoral boundaries, Markham used dirty tactics, name dropping and influence peddling, including threatening to dismiss the desperate labourers he employs in Ward 9, if they did not ditch Biti and vote for him," said Moyo.

"It was diabolic for Markham to conspire with the powers that be in CCC to conduct a selection process under which selectors or voters – many of them Markham's labourers – were required to queue behind the same Markham, their boss as their ‘preferred' parliamentary candidate for Harare East.

"It is a fact that Markham employs cheap labour in Harare East, and elsewhere around Harare and it is a fact that the labourers he employs in Harare East were coerced to vote for him by queuing behind him, their boss, and the explanation for this does not require the interpretive skills of a rocket scientist."

Unconfirmed reports had indicated Biti would stand for Senate before making it clear he wanted a Parliamentary seat.

His opponent, Markham, was not a benchwarmer in Parliament, however.

Markham has been a notable MP; taking government to task over a US$1.4 billion loan from Afrexim Bank, refusing last controversial US$40,000 Parliamentary handshake and proceeding to take legal action against Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) over release of the voters roll.

Outspoken Norton MP Temba Mliswa reckoned pitting Biti against Markham was not the best decision CCC President Nelson Chamisa could have taken before the community led candidate selection process.

"The very act of pitting him (Biti) against Markham was a blunder on the part of Chamisa which showed a lack of grasp of real politics. You do not endanger your prime horses to satisfy the unstable whims of democracy. Unless this scenario was the objective from the start!" said Mliswa.

"Biti, Chinotimba are model legislators who showed appreciation of their duties. Their absence will be a vacuum too hard to fill. Biti is one politician whose credentials measure up to Presidential status. He acquitted himself well as MP, Finance Minister, Lawyer etc."

Other than the weekend's congratulatory messages Biti has not reacted to his loss. Chamisa has however promised to redeploy him upon taking over government from Zanu-PF in August.

Despite reports indicating he might not be the favoured Vice President, Biti has widely been viewed as Chamisa's obvious deputy.

Without a Senatorial nomination, the only other way Biti could find himself back in Parliament could be as a Minister, appointed by the Executive.

"You cannot get angry over not being selected. Only those who sought to steal will get angry at it," said Chamisa over the weekend.

"They will be redeployed elsewhere. The one who has been nominated will be the candidate, and the one not nominated will be deployed. We are a big movement; they will be in government serving the people of Zimbabwe."