TENSIONS ran high at the Zanu PF Manicaland provincial co-ordination committee (PCC) meeting yesterday over failure by party bigwigs to announce names of candidates that had successfully submitted their curriculum vitaes to contest in the district co-ordination committee (DCC) elections.
Some members wanted the names to be released at the meeting
to avoid rigging.
The meeting, which was held at Marymount Teachers College
in Mutare, was attended by several senior party officials who included Defence
minister Oppah Muchinguri, Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa, Primary and
Secondary Education minister Cain Mathema, who was the guest of honour,
Manicaland Provincial Affairs minister Ellen Gwaradzimba and former Finance
minister and Zanu PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa.
The Zanu PF DCC elections are set to be held in a few
weeks’ time around the country.
A disgruntled Zanu PF member, who refused to be named, told
NewsDay that they were expecting names of successful DCC candidates to be
announced during the PCC meeting for the sake of transparency.
Why are they not unveiling the names? What was the motive
of them coming to this meeting?” he said. Another member, who is eyeing a PCC
position in Makoni district, weighed in, saying: “I think the best thing was to
announce the names of successful candidates during the meeting as we fear the
process might be rigged.”
However, Zanu PF Manicaland provincial chairperson Mike
Madiro, in his closing remarks, said the candidates will be announced through
co-ordinators in the various districts.
“Our leaders instructed that candidates contesting for DCC
should not come to the PCC meeting,” Madiro said.
In his speech, Mathema said the DCC elections should
strengthen the ruling Zanu PF party. He also encouraged the candidates to
desist from vote-buying.
“The DCC elections should not be a reason to divide us,
let’s walk as a united party. We don’t want vote-buying, we don’t want
imposition of candidates. The elections should strengthen us than divide us and
must also boost our party constitutionalism,” Mathema said. Newsday
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