ZANU PF THREATENS INDEPENDENT
CANDIDATES WITH EXPULSION
Zanu PF factional ruptures manifested through threats by senior ruling
party politicians to expel losing candidates in the Zanu PF primaries
threatening to contest as independents in the August 23 polls. Senior
members of the ruling party have threatened to expel the candidates that
lost during the Zanu PF primaries and decided to run as independents in
the elections scheduled for August 23. Speaking at a workshop which was
closed to the media, Zanu PF national political commissar Mike Bimha
reportedly said losing candidates should wait for the next election to try
their luck. “So far I don't know any candidate who will contest as an
independent candidate, but if you contest as an independent candidate,
you would have automatically expelled yourself from the party," Bimha
said. The threats were further buttressed by Defence Minister Oppah
Muchinguri who declared that all Zanu PF members who will contest as
independent candidates will have automatically expelled themselves from
the party. In Gutu East, George Vhengere reportedly decided to go
independent after the party disqualified him after winning the primaries. In
Gutu West Mutonho Mutonho and Tafadzwa Dhererai Shumba from
Mwenezi West reportedly felt discriminated against and opted to contest
as independent candidates. In Midlands province, former State Security
Minister Owen Ncube warned aspiring legislators against garnering more
votes than President Emmerson Mnangagwa in next month’s polls.
©Derek
Goto
Zanu PF threatens Independent
Candidates with expulsion
Ncube who is the current Zanu PF Midlands provincial secretary for
security, said polling more votes than Mnangagwa, the party’s presidential
candidate, was a cardinal sin they should avoid at all costs, come August
23. Speaking in Gweru on 28 June during the Mkoba North constituency
campaign launch, Ncube said Mnangagwa is the head of the train, hence
no Zanu PF member should get more votes than him. “So when we are
campaigning, it’s the President first, followed by the MP and then the
councillor,” Ncube said. These utterances could actually be pointing to a
likely ‘bhora musango’ scenario as experienced in 2008.
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