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party’s election manifesto and reports on Harare, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces’ restructuring will also be discussed during the crunch meeting.
Party spokesperson Cde Rugare Gumbo said the Politburo was expected to endorse the rules and regulations guiding the conduct of primary elections.
“We are most likely going to discuss the rules and regulations and the election manifesto. The documentation has been done and it is a question of the Politburo endorsing it.
“We are almost through with the process,” Cde Gumbo said. He said a Zanu-PF sub-committee tasked with drafting the rules and regulations was finalising some sections on Senate and women representation. Cde Gumbo said the Politburo was also expected to receive a report on the party’s Harare, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central provinces.
A team led by Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya-Moyo visited Harare a fortnight ago and Masvingo last week to get first-hand information on challenges the provinces were facing and to assess their preparedness for the upcoming elections.
The team was in Mashonaland Central yesterday after which it was to descend on Mashonaland West.
The Politburo will debate the reports and map the way forward. So far the team has visited Bulawayo, Manicaland, Harare, Masvingo and Mashonaland Central and is left with Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North and the Midlands provinces.
The fact-finding mission is expected to rejuvenate the party and prepare it strongly for harmonised elections to be held this year.
The team’s visit to Bulawayo and Manicaland culminated in the appointment of new provincial leadership, ending the intra-party squabbles that cost the party heavily in the 2008 harmonised elections, especially in Manicaland where Zanu-PF managed only six seats out of a possible 26.
While Zanu-PF was still to finalise on rules governing the holding of primary elections, some aspiring candidates are on the ground canvassing for support. This is despite a directive by the party urging its members to concentrate on mobilising people to register as voters.
At its last meeting, the Zanu-PF Politburo adopted most of the rules that will guide the conduct of the elections. Outstanding issues included proportional representation in the Senate and the quota system for women.
Some of the guidelines adopted during the previous meeting are similar to the ones set in 2008 but offer every member a fair chance to stand on the party’s ticket.
However, the rules are flexible as they allow waivers in instances where prospective candidates do not possess the required credentials.
Such waivers would be determined by the National Elections Directorate, which would be chaired by party national chairman Cde Simon Khaya-Moyo.
Exemptions will be made for civil servants, diplomats and other “deserving candidates of repute who have the requisite qualities’’.
Under the new rules, one has to have been a member of the party for five years to contest for a position in local government, House of Assembly, Senate and Presidential elections.
Online Reporter