A senior Zanu-PF official from Chirumanzu District in the Midlands province drowned after he tried to cross a flooded river to cast his vote during the party’s District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections.
Cde Muchato Masvinu – the District Chairperson for Chirumanzu
– was allegedly swept away while his wife watched in horror as he tried to
cross Shashe River to reach a polling station on Sunday.
Because of the heavy rains that have been pounding the
country, the ruling party abandoned elections at some polling stations in Gokwe
North and Shurugwi North as they had become inaccessible.
The decision to abandon the elections was taken to protect
the lives of party members. Zanu-PF acting national spokesperson, Cde Patrick
Chinamasa confirmed the incident in Gweru while addressing a Press conference
on Tuesday.
Cde Chinamasa is leading a supervisory team overseeing the
Zanu-PF DCC elections in the Midlands province.
“We have received some bad news to the effect that one of
our senior party members, Cde Muchato Masvinu, who was the District Chairperson
for Chirumanzu drowned after he was swept away as he tried to cross flooded
Shashe River. Cde Masvinu wanted to cross the river to get to a polling station
that was across to cast his vote during the DCC elections. It is on a sad note
that we announce his passing on,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said Mrs Masvinu rushed to call other
villagers who conducted a search which started on Sunday when Cde Masvinu was
swept away. They found his body yesterday afternoon downstream.
“Mrs Masvinu who was accompanying her husband to the
polling station watched helplessly as he was being swept away. His body was
recovered today around 12 midday following a search by fellow villagers,” he
said.
Cde Chinamasa said burial arrangements were underway. “Our
deepest condolences are with the Masvinu family and the whole province at
large,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said heavy rains that continued to pound the
province had negatively affected the election process.
“The rains have adversely affected the smooth running of
our elections and after losing one of our comrades who was swept away by the
floods, we were also forced to call off elections at some polling stations in
two districts namely Gokwe North and Shurugwi North as the areas were deemed
inaccessible.
“With respect to Gokwe North, we also decided to authorise
the voting to continue today after the process was disrupted by heavy rains and
the polling agents only being able to access some of these polling stations
today. We have abandoned voting at two polling stations in Gokwe North that is
Gumunyu and Budiriro Schools.
“The areas can only be accessed by a helicopter. In
Shurugwi we have only one polling station, Pombe Mine where voters could not
access the station to exercise their vote due to incessant rains,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said the elections were complete in five
districts, and were expecting to have received all the results from the other
districts by last night.
“We now have election results for Chirumanzu, Kwekwe,
Shurugwi and Zvishavane. They are ready and we have since forwarded them to the
national command center where the results will be officially announced. We will
have received all the results by midnight today and by tomorrow we expect to
wrap up our mission in the province,” he said.
Cde Chinamasa said there were a lot of complaints and
appeals from various districts which they managed to resolve.
“We resolved all appeals and made recommendations but those
who feel they need to appeal to the national command are free to do so and we
will not be offended,” he said. Chronicle
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