adminConrad Mupesa Correspondent
ZANU-PF aspiring candidates for the forthcoming harmonised elections have been urged to wait for the party to release the criteria for candidates and invite entries before they start campaigning.
Several people had started overt and covert campaigns for council and parliamentary positions.
Addressing party members at an inter-district meeting in Mhangura recently, Zanu-PF Central Committee member Cde Phineas Makumbe said any Zanu-PF member aspiring for a position should wait for the party’s national executive’s go-ahead.
He said the party was currently campaigning for its Presidential candidate President Mnangagwa.
“There are reports that some aspiring candidates in this constituency (Mhangura) have already started campaigning for themselves when the party hasn’t given the green light to do so. As for now, the party is only campaigning for the presidential candidate who is President Mnangagwa,” Cde Makumbe said.
He also said the term for sitting councillors and parliamentarians expires in July and people should not jostle for positions.
“The terms of office for the current holders are ending this coming July, so why rush to jostle for the positions when you haven’t been given the directive to campaign for your interests,” he added.
Secretary General for war veterans in Mashonaland West province Cde Mudzungaidzwa Mudarikwa said candidates should wait for the directive to campaign so that all aspiring candidates have equal platform.
Some of the aspiring candidates in Mhangura constituency have reportedly been conducting campaigns in various wards in the past weeks.
Councillor Davet Muzvidzwa, who is reportedly eyeing the seat held by former Lands and Rural Resettlement Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora, denied that he had started campaigning.
“I have not yet started campaigning, but only indicated my interests as a candidate. It seems as if we are already in the election mode hence everyone is talking about the 2018 elections everywhere. It is the sitting legislature’s team that is campaigning and facing resistance and has taken it upon itself to peddle falsehoods to discredit me,” he said.
Cde Tafadzwa Chitauro, a member of Dr Mombeshora’s team said Cde Muzvidzwa had taken his campaign across the constituency and was alerting the electorate of his interests.
Zanu-PF Mashonaland West provincial political commissar Cde Simon Solomon, in a separate interview, warned members of the party against defying the party’s directive not to campaign saying they risked falling foul of the party regulations.
“I have not yet received the complaints about candidates campaigning at the moment, but if they are, the party will take drastic action against them. The party’s provincial disciplinary committee will call the candidates involved for a hearing after conducting its own investigations on the matter. We expect every party member to be campaigning for President Mnangagwa at the moment,” he said.
At the same meeting, Cde Mudarikwa took the opportunity to urge the party members who have not yet registered to vote to take advantage of the ZEC mop up registration exercise currently underway.
He urged the party members to inform the electorate about the candidature of President Mnangagwa and rally behind him so that he wins resoundingly.
Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter