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The ruling Zanu PF has underlined its dominance over the MDC Alliance by romping to victory in by-elections held in Chimanimani Ward 16 and Mangwe Ward 17 over the weekend.
In Chimanimani Ward 16, the ruling party’s candidate Cde Charles Chinamira powered to a huge victory after garnering 1 589 votes against MDC Alliance’s Lazarus Murada who got 231 votes. In Mangwe Ward 17, Zanu PF’s Cde Ontibile Ndlovu was victorious after he got 313 votes against his opponent MDC Alliance’s Simbisiwe Mangwe’s 199 votes.
The Chimanimani Ward 16 by-election followed the death of Cde Tendai Nyabanga who collapsed during the ruling party’s annual people’s conference in December last year, while the Mangwe Ward 17 by-election followed the death of Cde Clemence Alfred Majahana last year. In Chimanimani Ward 16 voter turnout stood at about 45 percent.
The MDC Alliance failed to field polling agents at all of the 11 polling stations in the ward, despite submitting a list of agents to the electoral body before the election.
ZEC provincial elections officer for Manicaland Mr Moffat Masabeya said none of the agents on the list provided by the MDC Alliance showed up for training or deployment.
“During multi-party engagement, we asked political parties to submit lists with names of people who were going to be deployed as political agents in all 11 polling stations,” he said.
“We have a list with the names of all agents which the two parties submitted, but for unknown reasons, MDC-A agents did not turn up at the polling stations. They were supposed to come for training a week prior to the election, but they did not. When we deployed presiding officers and polling officers, we were supposed to deploy together with the political agents, but again the MDC-A was not present.”
Speaking on his aspirations for the ward after his confirmation as winner, Cde Chinamira said he was ready to focus on the development of his area.
“We are no longer in an election mode, we are ready to start focussing on development,” he said. “As we rebuild Chimanimani after Cyclone Idai, there is a lot of work to do in terms of the road network and bridges in the ward.”
Chimanimani East Member of Parliament Cde Joshua Sacco congratulated Cde Chinamira. Zanu PF’s provincial chairman for Matabeleland South, Cde Rabelani Choeni, said though they were happy with the victory in Mangwe Ward 17, they were equally worried about voter apathy in the area.
“We are grateful for those who have voted for our party representative and we managed to retain our seat,” he said.
“However, we are concerned with the level of voter apathy in the Makororo area. This calls for us as a party to re-organise and educate our people on the importance of turning out to vote on election day.”
He said Saturday’s victory was a testimony that the party was still strong in the province and that people believed in its ideology and the leadership of President Mnangagwa.
Online Reporter