Zanu-PF wins 2 council by-elections

Zanu-PF has won Harare Ward 36 and Chinhoyi Ward 4 after defeating opposition candidates in Saturday by-elections.

The Harare Municipality by-election was necessitated by the recall of former councillor Mr Lovejoy Chitengu, who had won during the August 2023 harmonised elections.

In the Saturday by-election, Mr Chitengu ditched the CCC and contested as an independent.

Zanu-PF candidate Hilda Ruzani polled 1 202 votes, while Mr Chitengu got 1 115 votes and Ms Loveness Gomba, a former councillor under the MDC Alliance banner got 289 votes.

After his victory in last year's elections, Mr Chitengu went on to become Harare mayor, but did not last a month after Mr Sengezo Tshabangu recalled him.

He was elected mayor just before his letter of recall was sent to the Minister of Public Works and National Housing, but survived for a few days because the letter had a spelling error, missing "n" on the surname, and ended up reading Chitegu.

The anomaly was later sorted and he went home.

In Chinhoyi, Zanu-PF candidate Ignatius Zvigadza romped to victory after garnering 728 votes, followed by Mr Archbord Muzanenhamo (independent), who got 675 votes and another independent candidate Mr Ignatius Blessed Chari who got a measly 13 votes, two votes less than the 15 spoilt ballots recorded.

The by-election followed the nullification of the August 2023 election results by Chinhoyi High Court judge, Justice Philda Muzofa, in a default judgment.

Zvigadza, who had lost the initial election, had argued in court that Mr Muzanenhamo was dishing out groceries to voters at his shop located within 300 metres of the polling station, just after casting their ballots, in violation of electoral laws.