Only ‘cadres of good repute’ to contest polls under Zanu-PF

a pool of capable legislators to be assigned different national assign­ments.
He made the remarks while address­ing party officials who attended the Midlands inter-district conference at Mkoba Teachers’ Col­lege on Sunday.
This comes amid reports that in some constituencies there were over 10 candidates aspiring to represent the party in parliamentary polls slated for next year.
Cde Mutasa said while Zanu-PF would not condone the imposition of candidates, there was need for the can­didates to be people of “good reputa­tion”.
He said: “There won’t be imposition of candidates, but we will conduct due diligence for those who want to stand at the primary elections.
“We cannot say because there won’t be imposition of candidates, then we take everyone and make them candi­dates at the primary elections. We can­not all say we want to stand at the pri­mary elections.
“We have to stand as a party and look at each other and choose who can stand for us. We want people who are clean and of good repute.
“Remember they will go to the har­monised elections to compete against candidates from other parties. We want people who can represent us well, peo­ple who are well cultured. Hazvidi kuzongoisa nebenzi rose.”
Cde Mutasa said the party would come up with rules and regulations that would guide the revolutionary party on who qualified to stand in the primary elections soon.
Rules and regulations for the pri­maries would be communicated to all provinces for implementation.
Zanu-PF secretary for legal affairs Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa said all local authorities and parliamentary candidates would be contested at the party’s primary elections.
“From the top to the bottom, every­one will be considered. There was a time when we said Politburo members should not be contested, but we dis­banded that because it was not doing us any good,” said Cde Mnangagwa.
He said the provincial leadership would not interfere with the nomina­tion of candidates for primary elec­tions.
Midlands provincial Governor Cde Jason Machaya concurred with Cde Mnangagwa.
He dismissed allegations of faction­alism in the province, saying the provincial leadership was united.
“As Midlands (province), we don’t want the imposition of candidates. In the 2008 elections our province did well because we did not impose candi­dates. We also didn’t have bhora musango phenomenon which hap­pened in some areas,” he said.
“We also don’t want factionalism because we don’t have factionalism in the province. We know it is important to be united. We know President Mugabe alone is our leader.”
Cde Rugare Gumbo, who is the party’s national spokesperson, said Zanu-PF was there to defend the revolution, land reform and the indigenisation and eco­nomic empowerment drive.
Meanwhile, Zanu-PF Matabeleland North Province was the first to endorse the candida­ture of President Mugabe who is the party’s first secretary.
The province met on Sunday November 11 in Lupane for the provincial inter-district con­ference where they re-affirmed Presi­dent Mugabe as the party’s sole candidate for the Presi­dency in the forthcoming elec­tions.
It was erroneously reported yesterday that the province was yet to endorse the Presi­dent’s candidature.
Our sister paper, Chronicle last week quoted Zanu-PF Matabeleland North acting chair­person and Governor for the province Cde Thokozile Mathuthu telling delegates that Presi­dent Mugabe was the only befit­ting candidate to lead the revolutionary party to a landslide victory.
“As a province, we have come up with res­olutions that we will present during the Annual National People’s Conference in Gweru next month. Our first resolution is that we endorse President Mugabe’s candi­dature in the next elections,” said Cde Math­uthu.
She said the province also buttressed a continuity of the indigenisation and eco­nomic empowerment programme.
The province also called for the scrapping of incentives for teachers and implored Gov­ernment to pay civil servants favourable salaries.
The party’s nine other provinces endorsed President Mugabe at the weekend ahead of the party’s 13th Annual National People’s Conference.
The conference is expected to endorse the nomination of President Mugabe when dele­gates meet in Gweru from December 4 to 9.