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Chronicle Reporters
THE Zanu-PF primary elections burst into life yesterday and voting was extended to midday today due to the overwhelming turnout of voters at most centres around the country, National Chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said. In an interview from Harare yesterday, Cde Khaya Moyo who leads the party’s National Election Directorate (NED) said primary elections started late at some polling centres due to logistical constraints and scores of voters were still in queues by last night.
“It has come to the attention of the NED that voting in the Zanu-PF primary elections has generally gone well throughout the country. In some provinces voting started late due to some logistical challenges and by the end of the day long queues were still evident,” said Cde Khaya Moyo.
“I therefore, direct that voting continues tomorrow, Wednesday, 26 June 2013, up to 12pm. Districts who face the challenge of ballot papers can improvise but they must ensure that the exercise is done in a free, fair and transparent manner.
“There are queues at some centres as we speak and we cannot punish the people. The final results must be submitted to the NED by 4pm tomorrow (today). We can still submit our nominations to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) by the end of the day.”
Constituencies visited by Chronicle in Matabeleland South, North, Midlands, Bulawayo and Masvingo provinces revealed that the voting process started at different times with some centres registering a huge turnout as early as 7am.
In Bulawayo voters were at the polling centres by 7am but the elections failed to take off as scheduled due to a shortage of ballot papers sent from Harare.
This resulted in delays in the distribution of the papers to the polling stations.
Ballot papers were transported to the province’s 43 polling stations in the afternoon.
Voting was still in progress well after 5pm at constituencies visited by Chronicle.
“I am glad the exercise went on well,” said Mrs Susan Ndlovu from Mpopoma.
In Nkulumane constituency, the newscrew visited Qinisani Orphanage where Zanu-PF youth secretary, Cde Absalom Sikhosana, cast his vote. He expressed satisfaction in the manner the polls were conducted.
“As Zanu-PF we showed maturity and voted peacefully and what really impressed me is that youths came in their numbers to vote because as a party we need to blend in young blood as youths are our future.
“President Mugabe has always been passionate about peace and that is exactly what we did as Zanu-PF, we conducted our polls in a peaceful manner,” he said.
By 6pm, more voters were still trickling in at some polling stations.
The turnout was overwhelming in parts of Matabeleland South notably Umzingwane and Insiza North constituencies where party members flooded the different polling centres to cast their votes.
Dozens of voters queued at Thelamanzi Business Centre near Esigodini as early as 8am while scores of others also thronged Habane polling centre.
The atmosphere at all the polling centres visited was peaceful and voting was conducted with ease.
Ten candidates Cde Jones Nkomo, Retired Colonel George Nare, Fungai Nkomo, Retired Brigadier-General Levi Mayihlome, Cdes Bernard Ncube, Xolani Moyo, Thomas Mguni, Themba Mathuthu, William Dhewa and Longwe Ndlovu are all contesting for the National Assembly in Umzingwane.
At Filabusi Centre voting ended at mid-day and by 1pm polling officers had started counting the ballots.
The election was conducted in the afternoon in Mawabeni and at Amazon Business Centre where about 300 people turned up to vote.
Long queues persisted at Thelamanzi polling station late in the afternoon as voters who had knocked off from work wanted to exercise their right to vote.
The primaries in Gwanda started at 2.15 pm.
Even though the primaries delayed, scores of Zanu-PF supporters started flooding Gwanda High School as early as 7 am to elect candidates that will represent the party in Gwanda Central Constituency during the harmonised elections.
Some of the logistical problems included shortage of ballot papers and power cuts.
Meanwhile, three aspiring Matabeleland South provincial council candidates for Matobo district, Cde Jane Phuthi, Cde Sithembile Ndlovu and Cde Elizabeth Nyathi withdrew from the primaries elections leaving Cde Ephraim Moyo as the only candidate.
Voting also progressed peacefully in Mangwe, Bulilima East and West constituencies despite delays in the distribution of ballot papers.
The voting centres were opened by 7.30am. However, about 50 voters were turned away at Izimnyama area as they were not on the party’s voters’ roll.
Long queues were observed at Mathendele Business Centre with party members saying the voting process was transparent and peaceful.
A peaceful environment also prevailed at Mathambo and Izimnyama polling centres in Bulilima West and business centres such as Dingumuzi ZBS in Bulilima East and Tshitshi area in Mangwe.
In Matobo North villagers started arriving at the polling stations as early as 8am.
When the news crew visited some of the polling stations in mid-morning villagers were being transported to their respective polling stations and waited for the polling officers to arrive and supervise the poll.
The voting process at most of the polling stations started four hours later because the polling officers arrived late citing transport problems and shortage of ballot papers.
In Matabeleland North, Zanu-PF provincial administrator, Cde Bigboy Nkiwane said a majority of the 553 polling stations opened at 7am.
“There have been no hiccups. We expect that the stations will close at about 7 pm. However, extensions may be granted if there will be long queues at the time of closing,” said Cde Nkiwane.
He said the province expected to finish counting the ballots and send the results to the party leadership by the end of yesterday.
A visit to Bubi constituency showed that voter turnout was low during the day at peri-urban areas, while polling stations in the villages had a higher turnout.
The polling stations around Queen’s Mine and Turk Mine were generally deserted.
Officials said a number of people cast their vote when the stations opened in the morning.
They said they expected party members to flood the station towards the end of the day, after knocking off from work.
There were queues at polling stations that include Lortondale Primary School in Ward 11 and Ekusileni in Ward 15.
In Midlands, provincial chairperson, Cde Jason Machaya said the province printed more than two million ballot papers and that most polling stations had received ballot boxes by 8am.
Cde Machaya said the voting process in most areas had started by 9am.
“We started with the furthest areas in the province such as Gokwe North and Mberengwa and by 9am the voting process had started,” he said.
In Gweru, voting was peaceful with some supporters visiting the polling station clad in full Zanu-PF regalia.
At Chaplin High School, voters had gathered at the polling station as early as 8am.
In Shurugwi, thousands of people thronged polling stations to cast their votes.
One could be forgiven to think that the primaries were the actual harmonised elections, judging by the huge turnouts.
When Chronicle visited Ward 10 under Chief Ndanga in Shurugwi South, there was a long winding queue as people patiently waited to cast their votes.
Enterprising people were making a killing by selling some fruits to voters.
There were also many more people who were gathered to cast their vote at Tongogara Rural District Council in Shurugwi North.
Voting in Mberengwa and Zvishavane went on peacefully yesterday despite delays in commencing the exercise at some of the polling stations.
Most polling stations in the two districts registered large voter turnouts, an indication that the revolutionary party still enjoys strong support, especially in Mberengwa.
Voting started at around 9am at one of the two polling stations while voting commenced at the second polling station, 30 minutes later.
The delays were attributed to the late arrival of ballot papers but that, however, did not dampen the spirits of the voters.
In Zvishavane-Ngezi constituency, which also covers Zvishavane Urban, people turned out in large numbers at a polling station near Ngezi River, a resettlement area about 20km outside Zvishavane town.
Voting was being done under a shed in a peaceful manner since the area still has to erect structures suitable for such exercises.
In Zvishavane urban at Grisham Primary School in Mandava suburb and Kubatana Hall just outside the Central Business District, voting was still underway around 3pm.
Polling officers said the voting exercise started at around 11am due to late arrival of ballot papers.
Voting started at mid-day in Masvingo province due to the late arrival of voting materials.
The voters thronged polling stations early and were seen milling around the polling stations waiting to cast their votes.
Winding queues were a common feature at most polling centres in Masvingo Urban where Dr Daniel Shumba, Cde Josby Orma and lawyer Mr Isaac Muzenda are contesting for the National Assembly seat.
In Chivi South voting started in the afternoon as polling officers were waiting for election material. Voting continued until after 7pm.
The pattern was almost similar in Harare, Mashonaland West, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland Central and Manicaland provinces.
Online Reporter