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Harare Bureau
EIGHT out of the 12 Zanu-PF members who had filed papers to stand as independent candidates after either losing in the primary elections or being barred from contesting have heeded the party’s call that they withdraw their candidature. Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo told journalists after a Politburo meeting in Harare yesterday that only Cdes Jonathan Samkange (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 in Manicaland.
Cde Matsikinyere yesterday confirmed that she had not yet withdrawn her candidature but indicated that negotiations with the party were ongoing.
“I have not yet withdrawn. We are still negotiating,” she told our Harare Bureau from her base in Chipinge yesterday.
Briefing journalists on those who withdrew after the Politburo meeting, Cde Gumbo said:
“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candidates but we have used our lines of communication to tell them that it is not warm out there and some have withdrawn,” Cde Gumbo said.
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 during the harmonised 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,” Cde Gumbo said.
The Politburo also discussed the issue of Cdes Elias Musakwa and Munyaradzi Kereke who both filed papers to contest for Bikita West constituency.
“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 for refusing to withdraw her candidature.
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 saying disputes would be dealt with after the harmonised elections set for 31 July.
The Zanu-PF Central Committee is meeting today (Thursday) and the National Consultative Assembly meets tomorrow (Friday) 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 27 January 1980, five years after he crossed into Mozambique on 4 April 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.
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