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OUT of 30 political parties that are registered with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec), only five will contest for the presidency in the 31 July harmonised elections. Some of the parties’ bids to seek election to the highest office suffered still births as their leaders had their papers rejected at the Nomination Court.
The reasons for the rejections are many but the commonest one was that they failed to get 100 people that are on the voters roll to sign their nomination papers as required by the law.
Others, like Zanu Ndonga, did not even go as far as the nomination court saying they were discouraged by Treasury’s refusal to fund them.
Mr Kisinoti Mukwazhe, leader of the little known ZDP was among those that successfully filed to contest the highest office in the land.
This pits him against President Mugabe of Zanu-PF, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T), Professor Welshman Ncube (MDC) and Dr Dumiso Dabengwa (Zapu).
Mr Langton Towungana was not so lucky. The Victoria Falls resident sought to contest for the second successive time as an independent presidential candidate after his debut in March 2008 but his papers were rejected by the Nomination Court.
Instead of blaming himself for that failure, he blames presiding officers whom he blasted for “robbing” him of a God-given opportunity to lead the country.
In a telephone interview from Victoria Falls, Mr Towungana surprisingly says he is not a politician. Rather, he said he was sent by God to solve Zimbabwe’s problems. This is despite the fact that he is seeking the highest political office in the land.
“I failed to file my papers because there was a problem with one of the people who had signed for me. They said the person who had signed was not on the voters roll. That person comes from Manicaland and he was one of the newly registered voters.
“With that problem they told me to go and get the slip to show that the person was a newly registered voter. We agreed that I was supposed to come back with the slip the following day at 8am. I went the following morning and they were nowhere to be seen. They were not honest, they were never honest, they just lied to me,” fumed the father of three. In the March 2008 elections 14 503 people voted for him. That was 0,58 percent of the total valid votes, so he finished last.
Mr Towungana is joined by Mr Egypt Dzinemunhenzva and Mr Wilson Khumbula in the national league of perennial presidential losers. Mr Dzinemunhenzva did not try this time. Mr Khumbula also didn’t because he had defected from Zanu Ndonga, his original party to Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn but returned to the Manicaland-based party late for the Nomination Court.
Mr Towungana is still unhappy about officials who handled presidential nominations in Harare so he threatened to approach the Constitutional Court for redress.
He said: “I am going to appeal to the Constitutional Court because what they did was unfair. It surprised me to find out that the court acted as if it was hired to frustrate some political parties. If they knew that the law does not allow me to come back the following day, there was no reason for them to say I should come back. Even if it’s a day (for nomination), but what can you do if you are being told to come back the following day? I was prepared for elections, I have everything and people supporting my candidature are just too many.
Mr Towungana holds a BA degree in Theology and is doing a Masters with an American University.
“I am not a politician,” he declared, “but a man of God asked to intervene in these elections. I am in politics to respond to God’s call. To join this race you have to go through political channels but this does not mean that I am a politician.
“Politics is destroying the country and without it, the country could have been better. As the president I wanted to improve the lives of people in rural areas. My main aim was to target growth points, which were to be developed and this translates to the improvement in living standards of people in rural areas.”
Zanu Ndonga had earlier indicated that it would field a presidential candidate but no representative of theirs pitched up at the Nomination Court.
The party is now led by the former Chipinge South MP, Mr Khumbula who rejoined the party from Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) where he was secretary for administration and management.
The change of guard at the helm surprised many because a few days before the Nomination Courts sat, Mr Gondai Vutuza, the substantive national organising secretary was acting president, but when the courts sat on 28 June, Mr Khumbula was back in charge.
He was the only MP elected in the 2000 parliamentary elections not representing Zanu-PF or the MDC. With his victory in Chipinge in 2000, he apparently thought he was popular hence participated in the 2002 presidential elections.
He got 1,05 percent of the votes after 31 368 people voted for him. It is the same election, in which Mr Paul Siwela contested as a presidential candidate and came fifth and last when 11 871 people voted for him. Mr Shakespeare Maya, of the National Alliance for Good Governance was fourth, with 11 906 votes.
Mr Vutuza said his party is going to win most of the seats in which they fielded candidates.
“There are several reasons why we did not field a presidential candidate. Firstly we have cut ties with MKD and we are not in coalition with anyone. Mr Khumbula, the former president of the party, is now back from MKD,” said Mr Vutuza.
“We fielded 20 candidates for Parliament and 40 councillors across the country. This is a foundation and we want to prepare our ground first before fielding a presidential candidate. If we manage to win these seats we are going to make a change in the country.”
He admitted that his party was facing serious financial challenges. After failing to secure money from Treasury, he said Zanu Ndonga had no option but to withdraw from the presidential race.
“The presidential candidate needs more resources to go around the country campaigning and for us at the moment we do not have resources to do that,” said Mr Vutuza.
“We are therefore appealing to donors across the world to assist us. If the Government had given us money we could have fielded more candidates and Mr Khumbula could have filed his papers as the party president. Unfortunately, he had to file his papers representing the party in Chipinge South for the National Assembly.
“We are not a small party but we are as big as the so-called big parties. People are tired of these parties in the Inclusive Government and they want a party that will deliver, that is what Zanu-Ndonga is going to do when we win these parliamentary seats.”
Multiracial Christian Democrats president Retired Right Reverend Gerald Mubaira seems to be singing from the same hymn book with Mr Towungana. He said God will provide the appropriate opportunity for him to be in the presidential race. He said he is a man of God with a road map to revive the Zimbabwean economy.
“There are several reasons why I did not contest and I cannot give them because they are so many. I am just waiting for the opportunity and when it’s my time all the challenges facing the country will be addressed.
“I have a clear road map for Zimbabwe which will last for about 50 years. All these other political parties are opportunists that are after money and publicity. I have not campaigned for the presidency before but I am a presidential material,” claimed Rtd Rev Mubaira.
“We have fielded candidates in some areas just to announce our presence. I will emphasise on that, for me it’s a matter of time and I am waiting for God’s time and I know when it’s my time, finance will be available and I will win the elections.
“I have heard some parties calling for $2 million which they say they want to use to campaign. That is not enough for us. My party needs about $50 million for an election. All this money will be made available when its time for us to be part of an election.”
Online Reporter