Zanu-PF wary of bhora musango

Published: 26 May 2018

A senior Zanu-PF official in Manicaland has expressed fear that disgruntled party supporters will vote for the opposition in the forthcoming elections in protest over the chaotic manner in which the party primary elections were held.

Aspiring Zanu-PF Senator, Ellen Gwaradzimba told a provincial co-ordination committee meeting in Mutare on Thursday that there was need to conduct a "healing process" to bring back disgruntled supporters.

"Allegations are that there are some disgruntled people who are not happy with the primary elections. There are people who are saying that they will only vote for President Emmerson Mnangagwa and a councillor, not for an MP. It's a dangerous situation," she said.

"This means that President Mnangagwa will be surrounded by ‘enemies' in Parliament. In our constituencies, we know these people. Let's talk to them because they are not politically mature. The party should come first."

Gwaradzimba added that the primary elections had complicated the matter.

"With the new dispensation, we have a fertile ground to win elections, but we need people who are sensitive to issues of Zanu-PF," she said.

"We can't do primary elections forever and this is a serious issue that might see us losing the elections. I have realised that the level of political maturity is different."

Some disgruntled party supporters have been besieging the Zanu-PF headquarters in Harare, protesting the imposition of candidates and rigging during the recent primary elections.

Zanu-PF Manicaland provincial chairman Mike Madiro told the meeting that there was no way the party could have held perfect primary elections.

"Going into the elections, we should now focus on our weakness; not strengths because this is common in us and naturally we cannot be perfect," he said.

He said Zanu-PF has an upper hand over opposition parties as it can use some arms of the government. "We have an advantage against other parties because we have arms of the government, and we should be on guard because of social media and a lot of money has been pumped to destroy us," Madiro claimed.

- newsday

Tags: Zanu-PF,