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stand as independent candidates after either losing in primaries or being barred from contesting, have heeded the party’s call to withdraw their candidature. Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo told journalists after a Politburo meeting in Harare yesterday that only Cdes Jonathan Samukange (Mudzi South), Daniel Garwe (Murehwa North) and Marian Chombo (Zvimba North) were still to pull out.
Cde Gumbo could not immediately remember the fourth person, but it is believed to be Cde Nokuthula Matsikinyere who is standing as an independent candidate in Chimanimani, Manicaland.
Cde Matsikinyere yesterday confirmed that she had not yet withdrawn her candidature.
“I have not yet withdrawn. We are still negotiating,” she said.
Said Cde Gumbo: “There were quite a number of party members who had filed to stand as independent candidates, but we have used our lines of communication to tell them that it is not warm out there and some have withdrawn.”
He admitted there could have been challenges in some areas during primary elections, but it was important for all Zanu-PF cadres to unite and ensure the party’s resounding victory in the elections.
“We agreed that yes, there may be irregularities here and there, but all we are saying is that let us close ranks and look at the future.”
The Politburo also discussed the issue of Cdes Elias Musakwa and Munyaradzi Kereke who filed papers to contest in Bikita West.
“In Bikita only one candidate, Musakwa, was endorsed by the party.
“The other one, Kereke was told from the onset that he cannot stand because of his cases but the Masvingo leadership decided otherwise,” Cde Gumbo said.
A number of Zanu-PF members, among them former Manicaland provincial chairman Mike Madiro (Mutare North), Dorothy Mabika (Chipinge Central), Marian Chombo (Zvimba North), Daniel Garwe (Murehwa North), Richard Mavhunga (Marondera Central), Rumbidzai Mujuru (Chikomba Central), Machiri (Mutare Central), Shylet Uyoyo (Bikita South), Matsikinyere (Chimanimani) and Samukange (Mudzi South), filed their nomination papers last Friday as independent candidates.
Mrs Uyoyo has since been expelled.
Cde Gumbo urged all party cadres to fully support those candidates who were voted and approved to stand for Zanu-PF by the nomination courts.
The Zanu-PF Central Committee is meeting today, while the National Consultative Assembly meets tomorrow ahead of the launch of the party’s election campaign and manifesto at the historic Zimbabwe Grounds in Highfield, Harare.
The Zimbabwe Grounds were chosen as the venue of the launch because they were the site of the first star rally addressed by President Mugabe when he and other freedom fighters returned from Mozambique on January 27 1980, five years after he crossed into Mozambique on April 4 1975 having spent 11 years in the Rhodesian regime’s prisons.
Cde Mugabe and other cadres were welcomed by a crowd estimated at 1,6 million by the Zanu-PF information and publicity department, 200 000 by the BBC, 150 000 by the Rhodesian police, and 1 million – with a safety margin of 25 percent – by people who said they arrived at the figure by enlarging aerial photographs and calculating crowd density.
Online Reporter