NPF losing candidate accused of fraud

Midlands Bureau
National Patriotic Front (NPF) Midlands provincial chair Mr Tiripayi Chipondeni has been accused of swindling the party of about $50 000 that was supposed to be shared by the candidates that represented the party in the province during the just ended harmonised elections.

Mr Chipondeni was fired from the revolutionary Zanu-PF party for fanning divisions early this year. He is the former councillor for Ward two Gweru urban.

NPF provincial executives are reportedly looking for Mr Chipondeni, who has since gone into hiding, to avail the money.
Party sources told the Herald that Mr Chipondeni, who lost the Gweru Urban Constituency where he was eyeing the Parliamentary seat, used the money to finance his campaign.

“We got information that all provincial leaders were given allocations for the provinces and Mr Chipondeni got $50 000. The money was supposed to be shared among the candidates. We then got information that Mr Chipondeni withheld the money and used very little to fund his personal campaigns, so we are now demanding our share,” said one of the party candidates who requested anonymity.

The party sources said the provincial leadership has since written to the national executive seeking clarification on how much money was released.

“We are yet to get the actual figures of how much money the national executive released. We want the correct position before we know what is due for each candidate,” said another source.

The sources said Mr Chipondeni has since gone into hiding after some party supporters confronted him seeking explanation. “We have been trying to contact him but to no avail as soon as we get full information on what he got as part of election funding from our national executive, we will then hunt him down,” he said.

Contacted for comment, Mr Chipondeni dismissed as false reports that he received money for campaign from the national executive. He also denied going into hiding. “I once received a Whatsapp message from one of our members asking about that money. I was also surprised because we did not get any money from our national executive for the elections.”