Zanu-PF Midlands DCC to hold elections

In an interview yesterday, Cde Machaya said all posts will be up for grabs in the DCC elections that would see ordinary party members contesting for posts for the first time.
“The provincial election directorate met on Saturday to receive nominations. All posts are on offer. The party has for the first time opened up to include ordinary members as long as they have been active in the party for five years or more. They have to be party members for them to qualify to contest any post,” he said.
The DCC elections are scheduled to begin today, ending on Thursday.
Cde Machaya, who is also the Governor for Midlands, said tomorrow they would hold elections for Gokwe South, Chirumanzu, Shurugwi and Mberengwa DCCs.
“On Friday we will move to Zvishavane, Gweru Rural, Kwekwe Rural and Gokwe North. Later in the evening, we will hold elections for Gweru and Kwekwe Urban DCCs. We encourage every eligible member of the Zanu-PF party to come and vote. We are going to have polling stations in each of our wards in the province, about 250 polling stations in all,” he said.
Cde Machaya said preparations for the elections went on well, with the Zanu-PF’s provincial elections directorate working on enhancing the party’s pro-democratic stance by plugging holes that made it easier for candidates in the past to engage in vote-buying.
He said the party set up about 250 polling stations in the province as it anticipated a huge turnout on the two-day intra party elections.
“We have also printed 500 000 ballot papers                    to be used in our DCC elections. These                     elections are more democratic as the Electoral College has been opened up to include all                 district officials unlike in the past where we used to pick only the top nine officials from each party district.
“All the 102 party district officials will be in Electoral College. A big area like Gokwe                    North which has 77 districts, for example, will have 102 multiplied by 77 officials. This means that    there will be more than 8 000 officials from Gokwe North alone and this makes it difficult for candidates bent on buying their way into office. In the past, it was easy to bribe the Electoral College as it had few officials but you will need to be filthy rich this time to buy all these officials,” said Cde Machaya.
Zanu-PF’s strong grassroots structures have seen the party holding DCC elections without fail after every four years. DCCs have a life span of four years.
Cde Machaya urged all aspiring candidates who meet the requirements to forward their names.
He said the DCC elections would be strictly held under the secret ballot system.
“There will be no raising of hands in the DCC elections. We want all people to understand, appreciate and exercise the secret ballot                  system. This is every party cadre’s election and everyone should feel free to participate,” said Cde Machaya.