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Tafadzwa Ndlovu Herald Reporter
Zanu-PF member Cde Shadreck Chipanga is now the Senator for Manicaland Province after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission confirmed his appointment in a Government Gazette yesterday.

Cde Chipanga replaces Cde Kumbirai Manyika Kangai who died in 2013 and was declared a national hero.

The announcement was made by Zec chairperson Justice Rita Makarau in a Government Gazette published yesterday and was made in terms of Section 39(7)(a) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13).

Zanu-PF Manicaland Province nominated Cde Chipanga to take over the seat.

The nomination effectively locked out Dr Gideon Gono, who had earlier been earmarked for the seat.

Dr Gono lost his bid to become the senator for Manicaland in September last year, when it almost looked certain that he would take the parliamentary seat, after he was chosen by the Manicaland party provincial executive then chaired by Cde John Mvundura.

The then Zanu-PF national chairman Cde Simon Khaya Moyo wrote to Zec to inform the electoral body to allow the former RBZ Governor to take up the Senate seat.

But Justice Makarau wrote to Cde Khaya Moyo to inform the party that Dr Gono was not eligible for the post because he was not registered as a voter in any ward in Manicaland ahead of the 2013 elections.

It then appeared that Dr Gono still had some chance to become senator when Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affair Minister, who is now Vice President, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa, was quoted in some sections of the media saying Dr Gono still had chances to land the post.

Dr Gono then issued a statement stating that all proper procedures were to be followed and he was not going to break the law so as to land the senatorial post.

But Zec stuck to its guns that Dr Gono was not registered as a voter in the province and attempts by the Registrar General’s Office to transfer him from Harare were not constitutional.

Senators in the Eighth Parliament are elected by proportional representation as measured by the number of votes won by the party in a particular province in a House made up of 80 members who include traditional chiefs and representatives of the disabled.