A parliamentary aspirant for Kwekwe Central who was disqualified in Zanu-PF's primary elections on Saturday has said he respects the party's decision and has since thrown his weight behind his rival.
Supporters of losing 2018 Kwekwe Central parliamentary candidate Kandros Mugabe were left disappointed after their candidate was forced to withdraw from the race at the 11th hour.
Mugabe is a flamboyant miner and a preacher is known for his philanthropic works in Kwekwe, were he assists the less privileged from across Kwekwe.
Mugabe's disqualification paved an automatic qualification for his rival Energy Ncube who is now the uncontested Kwekwe parliamentary candidate for the governing party and is the party's candidate for the harmonised elections scheduled mid his year.
Mugabe and Ncube were locked in a fierce battle to gain the ticket to represent the party in Kwekwe, oftentimes their supporters would be engaged in physical combat which would either spill to the police or the courts.
The two had to be suspended by the party in last year's by elections following serious bloodletting amongst the rival groups.
Consequently, the party fielded a less popular former Kwekwe Deputy Mayor John Mapurazi who went on to become fodder for Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate Judith Tobaiwa following a heavy thrashing.
"I know you supported me during this campaign and I am very grateful for the support which you gave me. However, in every political contest there will always emerge a leader amongst a dozens of contestants. Zanu PF as a party follows certain rules, it has its own ideologies which must be followed by every loyal party member. And as a loyal party member I am going to abide by the party decision which said I mustn't contest," he said.
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He said he respects the decision which comes from the highest office in the land.
"The party saw it fit to allow Cde Energy Dhala Ncube to be our parliamentary candidate and I support that decision and I give him my maximum support. I am not pained by the decision, as it was the President who told me to step down for Dhala and give him a chance to contest in the coming elections, as a member of the party who is loyal to the party and loyal to the President I abide by that decision. The primary elections are our internal processes of selecting leadership. I am therefore, going to campaign for cde Dhala for him to wrestle the seat from the Citizens Coalition for Change. Above all, the coming elections are about the party Zanu-PF and the President that is the bigger picture and every party member must put their shoulders to the wheel and I am already playing my part in ensuring a landslide for our President.
"The President has already won these elections with a very huge margin of 5 million plus. We cannot talk of CCC here which is struggling membership," he said.
