admin
Farirai Machivenyika Harare Bureau
FORMER Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono’s bid to land the vacant senatorial seat in Manicaland is now a closed chapter after the Zanu-PF Politburo accepted yesterday that he is not qualified for the post because he is not a registered voter in the province.
Gono had pinned some hopes on the Politburo after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission wrote to Zanu-PF indicating that although he had been nominated for the post by the party, he did not meet the criteria required by the law.
Speaking in an interview after the Politburo meeting yesterday, Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa said the party agreed that Zec’s decision was final.
“There is no issue,” he said.
“Zec has made its decision and we as the party are not contesting that decision.”
Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau indicated that the purported transfer of Gono to Manicaland as a voter done by the Registrar General’s Office on December 5 last year was unlawful since such powers were no longer vested in the RG’s office by that time.
Gono had been earmarked to succeed Cde Kumbirai Kangai who died in August last year.
Addressing journalists after the Politburo meeting, Zanu-PF’s secretary for information and publicity Cde Rugare Gumbo suggested that Dr Gono’s bid could be salvaged.
He said the Politburo had directed the legal department to look into the case and see how Gono could be accommodated.
“We did discuss about the issue of Cde Gono,” he said. “The decision of the party was made clear that for the time being we go along with what the chairperson of Zec Justice Rita Makarau said, but we will also look at other avenues of finding a way of ensuring that perhaps he can be nominated to that position.”
Gono’s hopes had been raised after the party’s secretary for administration Cde Didymus Mutasa made the astonishing claim that the law could not stand in the way of the Politburo, which had previously cleared Gono to fill the vacant post.
“No-one will reverse a decision of the Politburo,” Cde Mutasa said.
“We will ensure that the law fits with the requirements of the party.”
Gono was nominated by Zanu-PF Manicaland Province to replace Cde Kangai who was declared a national hero.
But Justice Makarau said Gono was not registered in any ward in the province in a letter to Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo.
This, Justice Makarau added, was notwithstanding a certificate of registration as a voter issued at Makombe Building on December 5 last year, transferring Gono to Manicaland.
“Now that the function to register and transfer voters is vested in the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the most practical way around the current difficulty would have been for Dr Gono to apply to the commission to transfer his vote from Harare to Buhera West,” she said.
“Again, Honourable chairman, we regret to advise that while we now have the constitutional mandate to register and transfer voters, and are willing and ready to register and transfer voters, there is no legal framework on voter registration and allied matters as envisaged in Section 157 (1) of the Constitution, a vacuum that has made us hold back on voter registration, thereby prejudicing not only Dr Gono in this case, but the generality of the electorate in Zimbabwe.”
Gono then alleged that individuals pursuing factionalism in Zanu-PF had played a role in denying him an opportunity to ascend to the senatorial seat.
He also said he belonged to a faction led by President Mugabe in Zanu-PF.
His allegations were dismissed by the government which indicated that Gono lost purely on legal grounds and his dismissal by Zec had nothing to do with alleged factionalism.
Dr Gono was also criticised for suggesting that President Mugabe leads a faction in Zanu-PF.
Londile Moyo
Online Reporter