Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Innocent Ruwende
9 November 2009
Harare — HARARE South legislator and Deputy Minister of Power Development Cde Hubert Nyanhongo is disputing the Harare provincial chairman elections won by Cde Amos Midzi at the weekend citing "irregularities" and vote buying.
In elections carried out on Saturday, Zanu-PF Harare provincial chairman Cde Midzi retained his post after he polled 1 052 votes against Cde Nyanhongo's 807.
Cde Nyanhongo yesterday said he had since written to Zanu-PF national chairman Cde John Nkomo seeking a nullification of Saturday's poll.
However, Cde Nkomo last night said he was yet to receive a report on the elections.
"I have not yet received a briefing from the commissar. He will report to me on the proceedings tomorrow (today).
"When I get that report and the petition you are referring to, I will be in a position to comment," he said.
Harare Metropolitan Resident Minister Cde David Karimanzira could not be reached for comment last night.
Cde Nyanhongo said prior to the elections he had written several letters to the national chairman, raising glaring irregularities in the manner the restructuring was conducted.
"Before the election date we had written several petitions to the national chairman highlighting anomalies that occurred during the restructuring exercise, which was conducted by Harare Central Committee members and supervised by Cde David Karimanzira and (Cde) Tendai Savanhu," he said.
"We were hoping that the national chairman was going to take action against these irregularities, but to our surprise nothing was corrected."
He said in district co-ordinating committee 3 that covers Dzivaresekwa, Kambuzuma, Kuwadzana and Mufakose, 23 districts were scrapped.
Cde Nyanhongo said as a result 24 000 people were not recognised in the party structures.
"In those districts I was supposed to have 400 delegates who were going to vote for me.
"All these delegates were denied entry into the voting venue. We also have the same problem in DCC-6 that covers Mbare and Harare South where six districts with 9 500 people were left out, of which 108 delegates were going to vote for me," he said.
He alleged that the people came to the polling venue but were denied entry.
The same, he alleged, happened in DCC 2 where he alleged three districts with 64 delegates were scrapped.
"They were scrapping districts, which they thought I had more support. All this was being done by Harare Central Committee members," he said.
He said he was surprised that Central Committee and Politburo members who had expressed their support for Cde Midzi voted against the party's constitution.
Cde Nyanhongo alleged that there was one man, whom he named, who was urging people to vote for Cde Midzi after giving them US$20 and US$10 notes.
"We don't allow people to buy votes. Zanu-PF does not condone such behaviour," he said.
Cde Nyanhongo said he had entered into the race in protest and was totally against the weekend polls.
"We are waiting for a response from the party hierarchy," he said.
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