adminChronicle Reporter
ZANU-PF provincial executive committees are gearing themselves up for elections to choose new office bearers for the party’s 10 provinces in the next four weeks, with some incumbent chairpersons offering themselves for re-election.
The provincial elections would be held starting from the end of this month to the first half of next month; three months after most of the party’s provincial executive committees led Zanu-PF to strong performances in the 31 July elections.
Matabeleland North provincial chairman, Cde Richard Moyo, said in an interview on Tuesday that he is seeking re-election. Bulawayo provincial chairman, Professor Callistus Ndlovu, who was appointed in April to stabilise the situation in the province ahead of the harmonised elections, ruled himself out. “Yes, I am willing to stand if the people say so,” said Cde Moyo.
“We are preparing for the elections and we have called a provincial co-ordinating committee meeting to be held in Lupane on Sunday. I feel if the people want me to stay on, I would take that as an honour and acknowledgment of what we have achieved as a province. When I was elected, the party had four seats in Matabeleland North, but we worked hard and in the last elections we improved to seven seats in the National Assembly. I and the executive committee have done well to unite the province. There is no squabbling. Everyone is working for the party.”
Cde Moyo was elected to chair the provincial executive committee in November last year.
Zanu-PF National Commissar, Cde Webster Shamu, said at the weekend that all provinces should have constituted their provincial executive committees by 10 December when the ruling party’s five-day annual conference starts in Chinhoyi.
Prof Ndlovu said he would not seek election to continue heading the Bulawayo provincial executive that failed to win any seats in the National Assembly or municipality but is credited with generally increasing the party’s share of the votes across the traditionally pro-opposition province.
“I was only working to assist the party going into the elections,” said Prof Ndlovu.
“I am a member of the Central Committee. I am not a candidate for the province, but I am a candidate for the Central Committee. As we speak, we are re-organising the districts. All is going on well in our districts but the challenge is in the city centre district where we have two entities that claim to be the district. But we are rationalising the situation. We would be ready by conference in December.”
Elections for the ruling party’s Bulawayo city centre district were cancelled at the weekend following allegations that some unregistered cadres sought to vote. Districts are electing leaders of their main wings, women and youth leagues.
In Masvingo, the provincial chairman, Cde Lovemore Matuke, wants to continue in that position, but he said that would depend on the outcome of a disciplinary hearing he is due to undergo to answer charges of violating party rules and procedures when he signed the nomination papers for Dr Munyaradzi Kereke in the run-up to the 31 July elections. Dr Kereke stood in Bikita West and won but his nomination had not been approved by the senior party leadership which established that he had not served for five years in the party structures to qualify to represent it in the elections. The former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe official beat the party’s official representative, Cde Elias Musakwa. He was expelled from the party and Parliament last week, rendering the Bikita West seat vacant.
Said Cde Matuke:
“We worked under very difficult conditions and returned the province to its status as one-party province. Whether I will seek re-election or not depends on my case but I have the support of the people. We will sit down with others and if people want me to continue I have no reason to refuse. But like I said, much will depend on the ruling of the party. I don’t know if the ruling will allow me to stand or not. Whatever decision is made, I will respect it. If the decision of the disciplinary committee is in my favour that would be fine, but if it is not, that’s it. When you appear before a court, you are either discharged or convicted.”
He said his executive committee worked well with the senior leadership from the province. This, he said, helped heal divisions in the leadership and the grassroots, which made it possible for the revolutionary party to win all the 26 National Assembly seats in the province.
Midlands provincial chairman Cde Jason Machaya said the provincial commissariat met on Monday to map the way forward, with the provincial elections directorate expected to meet in Gweru on Sunday.
The province, he said, has about 430 party districts and each contributes 102 members who would elect the provincial, youth and women’s league chairpersons by secret ballot. This means that in the Midlands, 44 290 cadres will elect the chairpersons of the three structures. The number of districts a province can have depends on the number of members it has. The higher the number of card-carrying members, the higher the number of districts.
After the Sunday meeting, Cde Machaya said there would be inter-district meetings across the province to report back and accept nominations of interested candidates. Thereafter the provincial elections directorate would also meet and go through the list of nominations after which the names would be sent to the national headquarters.
“The names would be sent so that ballots can be made and after that elections would be held. As always elections in the party are done by secret ballot,” said Cde Machaya.
On whether he intends to run again to lead the province or not, he said he would be guided by what the people say.
Online Reporter