Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Ward 9 candidate Bekithemba Nyathi has withdrawn his candidature for the March 26 municipal by-election.
Nyathi, a former Member of Parliament for Mpopoma-Pelandaba
constituency, successfully filed his papers at the Nomination Court which sat
on Wednesday.
Donaldson Mabutho, from the same party, who was the
incumbent before he was recalled from the council, also filed his papers for
the same ward.
A similar situation was obtained in Ward 21 where Norman
Hlabano and Mpumelelo Moyo, who are both members of CCC filed their papers to
contest for the vacant seat.
In a statement, Thursday, Nyathi said he was stepping down
to make way for the “Citizens Coalition
for Change (CCC) party certified candidate Mr Mabutho”.
“I have withdrawn because we can’t afford at this stage to
give Zanu PF a chance. This by-election gives our party led by our able
President Chamisa to deepen its tape roots into the electorate,” Nyathi said.
“Our small squabbles that emanated from the CCC internal
process of confirming candidates should not interfere with the bigger project
for Change in Zimbabwe.”
Nyathi said he was now throwing his weight behind Mabutho
and “will do whatever it takes for him to win Ward 9”.
“I also want to take this opportunity to apologize to my
leaders, in particular, President Chamisa and his Vice Prof Ncube for allowing
the small squabbles to spill on to the bigger picture”
Nyathi has since informed the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC) of his withdrawal.
“I take this opportunity to inform and notify you of my
decision not (to) contest the ward 9 council by-elections which are scheduled
for March 2022. I hereby withdraw my candidature and please be advised not to
include my name in the ballot paper for the by-elections due in March 2022,” he
wrote in a letter to the electoral management body.
The double candidates exposed divisions in the fledgling
party with analysts warning that if such issues are not resolved it could cause
friction in the party ahead of the crunch 2023 elections. Cite.org.zw
0 comments:
Post a Comment