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Cde Mutsvangwa

Cletus Mushanawani in Mutare
Voting in the Zanu-PF provincial elections in Manicaland and Midlands ended last night with results expected today, with one candidate in Manicaland, Cde Monica Mutsvangwa withdrawing from the contest.
Although Cde Mutsvangwa withdrew her candidature over alleged irregularities, contestant Ambassador John Shumba Mvundura and elections team leader, Zanu-PF national secretary for legal affairs, Cde Emmerson Mnangagwa denied any mishap in the electoral process.
“Cde Mutsvangwa who was eyeing the provincial chairperson seat submitted her letter of withdrawal late yesterday (Saturday) night and I asked her to put all the allegations of unfair practice in writing.

“She is still to submit the allegations, but as far as I am concerned the elections went on very well in nine of the 10 constituencies we have received reports and results from. There are 11 constituencies and we hope reports from the last constituency will also be positive,” said Cde Mnangagwa.

In an earlier interview, Cde Mutsvangwa said she had withdrawn her candidature because of a number of irregularities.
“I realised that it was important to withdraw my candidature so that all the grey areas in the conduct of the elections are addressed. My team picked up irregularities in almost all the places where voting was taking place.

“People were being intimidated not to vote for me and the voters’ registration was not in order. The main problem is that the outgoing chairman, Cde Mvundura is superintending an election in which he is also a candidate and this gives him an unfair advantage over me.
“Returning officers were impartial. In all districts which I had an upper hand, they were starved of ballot papers. Remedial action should be taken. A rerun is important because we want our electoral processes to have integrity,” said Cde Mutsvangwa.

However, Cde Mnangagwa gave the electoral process a thumbs up.
“From the reports I received from 10 out of 11 constituencies, nine of them confirmed that everything went well, while in one of the constituencies some irregularities were cited and we will look into them as a team. I want to commend the people of Manicaland for conducting the elections in a peaceful manner although there were logistical challenges encountered.

“Harare delayed dispatching election materials and this saw some people voting today as it took a bit of time to take the materials to all the corners of the province,” he said.

Cde Mnangagwa also commended the electorate for their resilience as they patiently waited to exercise their right to vote.
“We are happy with the maturity of our cadres as they patiently waited for the arrival of election material. This is highly commended. As the team leader I am satisfied with the manner the elections were conducted, a reason why I am leaving now,” he said.

Results were not readily available at the time of going to Press.
Ambassador Mvundura denied accusations of rigging saying that nothing was brought to his attention.
“I do not know (anything concerning) those claims of vote rigging since it was not brought to my attention. Right now we are doing reports of people to come with the results.

“I never went out of my office to the voting centres and was never told if there were any rules that if elections were conducted I should lock my office and go away.

“If they are claiming to have seen me at the command centres, where were they and did they send people to watch my movements. Was anyone barred from visiting the command centre? What I can say about the elections is that our people have matured since they were conducted in a peaceful environment.

“We never received any reports of violence and that is all I can say about the elections,’’ said Ambassador Mvundura.
In the Midlands province the voting process kicked off at around 9am yesterday and went on smoothly across the province’s eight districts.
Zanu-PF political commissar in the Women’s League, Dr Olivia Muchena, who was co-ordinating the elections in the Midlands Province, said in Zhombe, Zvishavane and other places the process was delayed due to logistical challenges encountered in the distribution of the ballot papers.

“The voting process went on smoothly. We are now on the counting process. We are at the provincial command centre where we are compiling the results. We are still contacting our polling stations to give us the results. We will announce the results as soon as we finish the counting process,” she said.

Incumbent provincial chairman, Cde Jason Machaya who is seeking to retain his post is facing his deputy, Cde Larry Mavhima while Cde Edmore Samambwa is battling it out with Cde Tanaka Manyadza for the Provincial youth wing chairperson.
Both Cde Mavhima and Cde Machaya expressed confidence in landing the post.

Cde Mavhima said he had an upper hand in the elections.
“I am confident that I will land the position because I seem to have an upper hand,” he said.
Cde Machaya said he was impressed that he was contesting against his deputy Cde Mavhima.

“I am confident that whoever lands the post would successfully lead the province considering the experience that we both have,” he said.