Six contenders have been cleared to participate in next Saturday’s Zanu PF primaries for by-elections in the Harare East and Mount Pleasant constituencies on April 27.
Skipper Lynette Mahlaba and Kelvin Mutembanyuka will compete for Harare East, while skipper George Mashava, Jason Basadi, Chris Chuchu and Biddle Gwasera will compete for Mount Pleasant.
The two constituencies fell vacant after former legislators Ms Fadzai Mahiri (Mount Pleasant) and Mr Rusty Markham (Harare East) resigned from Parliament last month.
Zanu PF’s National Political Commissioner, Cde Mike Bimha, told journalists yesterday that the rival candidates had been cleared by the party’s presidency.
“You will remember that we had members of Parliament who resigned (from the CCC), particularly the Members of Parliament for Harare East and Mount Pleasant,” he said.
“They resigned in solidarity with Nelson Chamisa and therefore, these constituencies have been declared vacant and an announcement has been made that there will be elections on April 27 this year to fill these vacant positions.
The party has set Saturday, March 23, as the date for holding the primary elections. Primary elections are held when there is more than one candidate.
“Therefore, I am pleased to announce that His Excellency the Chief Secretary of Zanu PF, Dr. Ed Mnangagwa, has approved the candidates for the Zanu PF primaries next Saturday.”
Cde Bimha said for party members to be eligible to vote in the primaries, they must be registered on the party cell registers and also be registered voters under the Electoral Commission of Zimbabwe.
He said that the ruling party began restructuring and verifying the membership of party cells in the two districts on Friday.
“We have embarked on a blitz to ensure that we start the restructuring process, creating cells in these two constituencies,” CD Bemba said.
He added, “This exercise began yesterday (Friday) in earnest, with teams moving around to create cells and also to verify the membership of these cells.
“Once we have real, credible and verified cell records, they then make up our voter list that will be used in next Saturday’s primary election.”
Cde Bimha encouraged Zanu PF members in the two constituencies to participate in the registration process.
“The party is on record to say that we do not impose candidates and we encourage all our members to come forward and participate so that they can exercise their right to choose their preferred candidates,” he said. Sunday mail
Cde Bimha said once the primaries are concluded, members of the ruling party should rally behind the winning candidate to campaign before April 27.
