WATCH: Zanu-PF holds peaceful internal polls

26 Mar, 2023 - 00:03 0 Views
WATCH: Zanu-PF holds peaceful internal polls Voters stand in long winding queues as they wait to cast their ballots in the Zanu-PF Primary Elections in Pampoenpoort in Umguza yesterday

The Sunday News

Sunday News Reporters

HORDES of people turned out for the Zanu-PF primary elections that were conducted yesterday and they spill into today to afford everyone a chance in polls described as a great show of democratic maturity.

The elections were conducted without incidents in the eight provinces of the country. Elections were postponed in Midlands and Masvingo provinces to today. Addressing a Press conference at the party’s headquarters in Harare yesterday, Zanu-PF National Political Commissar Cde Dr Mike Bimha said the elections had been conducted in a peaceful manner.

“This demonstrates the organisational capacity and capability of our tried and tested revolutionary party. All things considered, this primary election is geared to be a great success,” he said.

Voters stand in long winding queues as they wait to cast their ballots in the Zanu-PF Primary Elections in Entumbane yesterday

Cde Bimha said the party was now seized with securing voting material to ensure smooth voting during today’s extended date.

“Due to the multitudes of our party faithful who thronged polling stations across the country, the party has been compelled to extend voting in some areas to tomorrow (today) March 26, 2023. Only the voting centres that did not complete the voting exercise are expected to resume the voting process until lunch time. As reported earlier, Masvingo and Midlands will commence the voting process tomorrow (today) from 0700hrs to 1600hrs,” he said.

Cde Bimha urged the party’s structures to ensure that all its members are well catered for and recorded in cell registers.

“We are expecting 4,3 million registered card-carrying party members to vote in this primary election. We also received reports from our various Provincial Command Centres indicating that a significant number of our supporters could not vote because they were not captured in the voter’s rolls (cell registers). 

With this in mind, we urge our party structures to capture these supporters as we march towards reaching the five million voters target in the forthcoming 2023 harmonised elections,” he said.

Addressing the same Press conference, Zanu-PF National Spokesperson Cde Christopher Mutsvangwa said the party’s leadership was focused on ensuring that its members’ expectations are met.

“We always boast that Zanu-PF is there to rule by the consent of the people. Here we are today in the Second Republic in the openness agenda championed by President Mnangagwa extending democracy to the grassroots level of this massive party of the Zimbabwe revolution,” he said.

In Bulawayo, elections started at about 8am. Voting went on smoothly with voters at most centres in and around town expressing their excitement at exercising their democratic right. Politburo member in charge of the primary elections in Bulawayo Province Cde Eliphas Mashaba said though there were logistical challenges in the beginning, the process  went well.

“The process of our primary election in Bulawayo Province started a little late. We had logistical issues which we solved later. We were supposed to start at 7am but ended up starting at 8am hence we extended the closing time to 5pm. We did not have major problems, we had participation from a lot of people including the youth and women,” he said. 

He said those who did not manage to vote due to a mix up in cells will have an opportunity to vote today. “The election will continue tomorrow (today) from 7am to 1pm to accommodate those who failed to vote. There was a mix up of cells due to the delimitation and new demarcations. So, all those who could not vote will have a chance tomorrow,” said Cde Mashaba

Voting kicked off at 9.45am at Pampoenpoort Primary School, Umguza District in Matabeleland North, with a Mr Eliot Mpofu the first to cast his ballot at the school. According to voters who spoke to Sunday News, people had got to the polling station as early as 4am. Long winding queues were the order of the day at Mahlothova and Dundubala Primary Schools, with law enforcement officers maintaining order.  By midafternoon, the mood was sedate at Lupane Local Board crèche, as most polling stations in the Matabeleland North Provincial capital had little to no activity as most of the voting was done earlier in the day. 

By 2pm, there were no voters at Mabhikwa Primary School in Lupane, despite observers reporting that the school had been a hive of activity earlier on. 

The rest of the day played out without incident, with voters eager to see the rest of the election process play out and the winners revealed. The  party’s provincial chairman, Cde Richard Moyo said the party was pleased by the smoothness of the process. 

Voters stand in long winding queues as they wait to cast their ballots in the Zanu-PF Primary Elections in Cowdray Park yesterday

“We are happy that everything is going well and I have spoken to our Politburo member in charge of the elections in the province, Cde Headman Moyo and he said everything is going smoothly. We are in Umguza today and as you can see, people are moving freely and peacefully,” he said.

Zanu-PF party members from all urban wards under the Gwanda-Tshitaudze constituency turned up in numbers to cast their votes at their polling station at Gwanda High School. Some of the voters were, however, turned back as their names did not appear on the voter’s roll. The voting process, however, progressed smoothly. Party members that managed to cast their votes expressed satisfaction over the process. They said the polling officers were efficient and did not delay voters. 

Party members kept turning up at the polling station throughout the day. Local authority and constituency candidates spent the greater part of the day at the polling station. Zanu-PF Politburo member and overseer of the Matabeleland South primary election process, Cde Richard Ndlovu said no cases of violence were recorded throughout the province. He said ballot papers were delivered on time at most of the polling stations.

“The voting process progressed well throughout the day and we didn’t receive any cases of violence in our polling stations across the province. This is a sign of unity, respect and maturity among party members. The ballot boxes were delivered on time at almost all the polling station and as early as 8am voting had started in some stations. We had a few polling stations where the ballot boxes delayed which further delayed the start of the voting process. However, the people were eventually able to cast their votes as the day progressed. Some members failed to vote as their names didn’t appear on the voter’s roll. In most of these cases the names of the voters were misspelled and didn’t match what was in their IDs,” he said.

Cde Ndlovu said by 8pm the voting process was still underway at some polling stations which meant that it could spill over to today. He said it was important for all party members to exercise their Constitutional right to vote.

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