THE Zanu PF primary election held for the Insiza North constituency in Matabeleland South ahead of the forthcoming by-election ended in controversy after Moses Langa was elected the party’s candidate amid reports of violence, vote-buying and rigging.
The by-election was triggered by the death of Farai Taruvinga, who succumbed to cancer on March 31 this year.
Taruvinga was serving his second term as legislator for the constituency.
Zanu PF held primary elections on May 3 to elect a candidate to represent the party in the upcoming by-election. Seven candidates contested in the primary elections.
However, Moses, the son of former legislator Andrew Langa, emerged the winner after beating former Zimbabwe Electoral Commission commissioner Qhubani Moyo, Delani Moyo, Sifiso Mpofu, Nkosana Mthunzi, Ernest Ncube and Davison Moyo.
In the results declared by the presiding officer, Headman Moyo, at the Insiza North Constituency command centre, Langa won with
2 478 votes, followed by Delani Moyo, who polled 1 564 votes, while Qhubani Moyo secured 983 votes.
The other candidates, Davison Moyo (271), Mpofu (157), Mthunzi (97) and Ncube (16) fared badly, while there were 33 spoilt ballots.
- Binga to Rwanda: ED’s dilemma
- Mnangagwa’s Davos jaunt criticised
- Going to Davos is a costly jaunt
- By-elections expose exclusion of female politicians
Keep Reading
However, following the declaration of the results, party members complained that the elections were not free and fair due to alleged violence, vote buying and rigging.
Most of them believe that Delani Moyo won the primary election ahead of Langa and want the party leadership to intervene to address the anomaly.
“We have conducted the by-elections and Langa was announced the winner after violent campaigns. But we believe that the winner is Delani, who was wanted by the people,” a party member told Southern Eye.
“The people did not want Langa, it seems he was wanted by the national leadership as they gave him four cars and his supporters were given 2023 presidential campaign T-shirts.”
Another supporter said there were several inconsistencies in the results announced, especially at the ward level, adding that polling agents had different figures from the official position.
“If the leaders keep silent when this happens, they will regret in the future. They cannot impose someone not wanted by the people on us. They must not use us like that.
“If they want to impose their will on the people, they must not even call for elections when they have their people. Voting in Zanu PF is now a waste of time.
“We have seen people using presidential regalia that was meant for the 2023 elections, which could have been distributed by then and also the rice was used to buy votes, but leadership has not raised any voice against that.”
Zanu PF director for communications Farai Marapira could neither deny nor admit the allegations, but advised aggrieved members to follow laid-down channels of making complaints in the party.
“There are channels which must be followed for members to lodge their complaints. The party does not tolerate cheating, but if they do not follow channels, this remains rhetoric,” he said.
“We expect unity among members during the by-election. Primary elections are not meant to divide members but to unite them and they are not the end. We expect
everyone to rally behind the winning candidate during the by-elections.”
