Zimbabwe Minister of Information Jonathan Moyo’s bid to appeal against his exclusion from the ruling Zanu-PF’s primary elections in Tsholotsho will not succeed once the party’s central committee adopts the decision to reserve the seat for a woman candidate, Zanu-PF’s secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, said on Thursday.
Moyo has appealed to Zanu-PF’s national elections directorate against the decision to reserve the Tsholotsho constituency for a woman, thereby disqualifying him.
Mutasa said the ruling party only received Moyo’s faxed appeal on Thursday, although a story appeared in The Herald on Thursday morning reporting on its contents. He said the party will provide an “appropriate response”.
“We have only received the appeal today [Thursday],” Mutasa said. “The central committee will deliberate on the positions taken by provinces and once adopted by the committee, nobody can appeal.
“Moyo has just presented his appeal to us today and it will be looked into by the elections directorate and it will come up with an appropriate response before the central committee meets.”
Senior members of the Zanu-PF Women’s League on Thursday said they will not tolerate any reversal on Tsholotsho.
“As women, we will not allow rules to be bent for one man,” a politburo member in the Women’s League said. “This decision has to be respected and men must give women a chance.”
In his appeal to the chairperson of the Zanu-PF national elections directorate, Elliot Manyika, Moyo said the manner in which Tsholotsho had been set aside for women was unfair.
He said he met the party’s criteria to contest the primary elections as a current MP, a former member of the central committee, a former deputy secretary for information in the politburo and as a current member of the party’s national consultative assembly.
Moyo has fallen out of favour with the party leadership since hosting the ill-fated Tsholotsho meeting, allegedly to try to block Joyce Mujuru’s elevation to the post of vice-president ahead of Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Five provincial chairpersons who attended the meeting have since been suspended from holding any party position for five years.
Veterans leader disregards nomination process
Meanwhile, war-veterans leader Joseph Chinotimba this week said he will disregard Zanu-PF’s nomination process, insisting he is still the candidate for the Glen Norah constituency. He was disqualified at the weekend.
The Harare provincial coordinating committee barred Chinotimba from contesting primary elections scheduled for January 15, reserving the seat for former Harare commissioner Cleveria Chizema.
Chinotimba ignored the disqualification and submitted his papers for vetting directly to the national elections directorate and politburo.
Chinotimba confirmed to the Zimbabwe Independent that he had submitted his papers to the politburo for vetting after the provincial coordinating committee indicated that Glen Norah was reserved for a female candidate.
“As far as I am concerned, I am still an aspiring candidate for Glen Norah until the politburo and the people of my constituency reject me,” Chinotimba said.
“People of Glen Norah should stay calm because I am still in the race to represent them. I have submitted my CV directly to the national commissariat for vetting,” Chinotimba said.
“All those who are claiming that they are already candidates are lying because the national commissariat and politburo are yet to confirm their candidature.”
Chinotimba said there are a number of candidates who have been unfairly treated and have forwarded their CVs directly to the national elections directorate.
Sources in Zanu-PF said Manyika has been overwhelmed with complaints from constituencies throughout the country.
They said more than a dozen candidates who feel robbed by both the party’s new requirements and reservation of seats for women have either written or sent emissaries to make representations to the politburo and national commissariat on their behalf, seeking the reversal of the nomination process.
“There is serious disgruntlement among party activists following the exclusion of aspiring candidates who had spent millions of dollars in campaigning and assisting the electorate in the constituencies,” sources said.
They said most incumbent MPs who were imposed as candidates had failed dismally over the past five years and efforts to remove them were quashed by the stringent guidelines set by Zanu-PF two weeks ago.
Only members of the provincial executive, national consultative assembly, central committee and “clean” sitting MPs are eligible to participate in the primary polls. — Zimbabwe Independent
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