Campaigning starts

Chinhoyi Bureau
CAMPAIGNING for the Mashonaland West provincial council chairmanship has started with several names being thrown around to head the province’s development agenda for the next five years. The recently held Provincial Co-ordinating Committee meeting sought to have the matter finalised, but members were advised to wait until the inauguration of President Mugabe tomorrow.

Zanu-PF won eight of the provincial council seats, leaving only two for the MDC-T following a landslide victory in the province under the proportional representation model.

Chegutu district administrator Mr Nimrod Chiminya’s name was proposed in the meeting before the process was stopped to allow for guidance from the national executive.

Mashonaland West provincial chairman Cde John Mafa said it was not proper for the lower structures to be constituted when the highest position in the land had not been inaugurated.

“We wait for guidance from the top on how best we can do the selection. We would not want to put the horse before the cart and do things wrongly instead of waiting for due process,” Cde Mafa told PCC members.

In an interview yesterday, Cde Mafa said the process had been stalled until guidelines on the criteria for selecting people to head the provincial councils has been released. “We are aware that people are positioning themselves for the position, which is fair and fine, but we cannot move on that one until the guidelines are released from the top,” said Cde Mafa.