Zim News Blog -NEWS NETWORK

Joseph Madzimure-Senior Reporter

RERUNS for the Zanu PF primary elections will be held tomorrow with any candidate who will engage in acts of violence facing immediate expulsion.

Reruns will be held in Mbare, Churu, Gokwe-Nembudziya and Zvimba West constituencies, while in Insiza South, a rerun will be conducted on April 22.

Voting will run from 7am-3pm.

Immediately after 3pm, vote counting will start and will be finished by 6pm. The results collated from the respective constituencies will be relayed to the Constituency Command Centre which in turn will advise the National Command Centre.

Speaking at a press briefing last night, Zanu PF National Political Commissar Cde Mike Bimha said formal preliminary results will be announced on Monday next week.

“The ad-hoc special committee has been meeting for several days to make sure that each and every complaint is received and considered and recommendations made to the Politburo.

“Now that the reruns will be conducted, the tribunal will no longer meet to consider complaints from the primaries. If at all the tribunal is going to sit, they will probably be sitting to consider complaints from the re-runs, but I don’t expect any,” said Cde Bimha.

The party has deployed Politburo members to the outstanding constituencies to ensure a smooth rerun of the primary elections. 

“In order to make sure that we have a smooth rerun, we have deployed Politburo members to the five constituencies. They will be at the Constituency Command Centre.

“We have deployed two members of the Politburo to each constituency and these constituencies have varying numbers of polling stations and each polling centre will have a Central Committee member to supervise the elections at that polling station,” said Cde Bimha.

The Central Committee members will not be from the provinces where elections will be held.  

They will be supervising the work of the presiding officers as well as polling officers.

“Tomorrow (Friday), all the candidates concerned will be at the party headquarters so that they are briefed on the party’s expectations,” Cde Bimha said. 

If any candidate is accused of violence, he or she will be disqualified.

In Mbare, the supervising teams are coming from Mashonaland Central, and the Politburo members who will be supervising the elections are Cdes Engelbert Rugeje and Mackenzie Ncube.

In Churu constituency, the supervising teams will come from Mashonaland East province and supervisors are Cdes Paul Mangwana and Kenneth Musanhi.

In Zvimba West Constituency, the supervising teams will be from the Midlands provinces and monitored by Cdes Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and Elifas Mashaba.

In Gokwe-Nembudziya, the supervising team will come from Masvingo and monitored by Cdes Douglas Mombeshora and Michael Nyambuya.

Mbare constituency will have 10 polling stations, while Churu will have 25, Zvimba West 24, Insiza South 35, and Gokwe-Nembudziya 28.

Cde Bimha appealed to party members in various constituencies to come in their numbers and exercise their right to vote for their preferred candidates. 

Zvamaida Murwira-Senior Reporter

THE Electoral Amendment Bill currently before Parliament will be given priority so that it is passed on time as it has a bearing on the forthcoming harmonised elections.

While Parliament has nine other Bills that are up for consideration, the Electoral Amendment Bill has to be concluded ahead of elections scheduled for between July or August this year.

The Bill needs to be finalised as it will operationalise the latest constitutional amendments for the election of 10 youth members of the National Assembly, one from each province, as well as the continued election of 60 women, six from each province, to the National Assembly under a party-list system.

The Bill will extend the new constitutional provisions for the election of women on a party-list system to provincial councils and local authorities, and will prevent people from being nominated for election if they have been convicted of certain offences. 

It also sets a time-limit for the withdrawal of constituency candidates.

The Bill seeks to stop the use of driver’s licences as proof of identity by persons who register as voters and those who obtain ballot papers at polling stations.

Political parties including Zanu PF have since identified persons to fill the youth and women’s quotas.

In an interview, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi, who is the Leader of the House, acknowledged the need to expeditiously deal with the Bill.

“Indeed we need to have it passed before proclamation of elections. Once we manage to do that, it will be used for the forthcoming elections. We will definitely prioritise the Bill and I do not see any impediment from having it passed on time. We will definitely be on time,” said Minister Ziyambi.

Legislators from the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change have proposed several amendments to the Bill which Parliament will have to consider.

Mutare Central MP Mr Innocent Gonese and Kuwadzana East MP Mr Charlton Hwende proposed some amendments which are now before Parliament for consideration.

Minister Ziyambi said Parliament will give due consideration to the proposed amendments and they will be debated accordingly.

Some of the proposed amendments from Mr Hwende include the requirement to furnish every polling agent with a voters’ roll bearing pictures of all registered voters in order to validate their identities.

He also wants the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to ensure that, for at least two months after the announcement of the result of an election concerned, all voting returns to be kept open for inspection by members of the public at all reasonable times, and to provide copies upon payment of prescribed fees.

Mr Gonese proposed the insertion of a clause to compel ZEC to call for a competitive tender to print ballot papers and all related electoral material including the procurement of indelible ink, the supply of ballot boxes and all relevant material.

He also proposed the expansion of the list of those to get special voting rights by including provision of essential services to cover any hospital or medical service, any transport service, any service relating to the generation, supply or distribution of electricity, any service relating to the supply or distribution of water, any sewerage or sanitary service, any service relating to the production, supply, delivery or distribution of food, fuel or coal among others.

Besides the Electoral Amendment Bill, there are other Bills that Parliament will have to contend with.

They include the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Amendment Bill, Prisons and Correctional Service Bill, Medical Services Amendment Bill, Insurance and Pensions Commission, Insurance Bill, Public Finance Management Amendment Bill, Children’s Amendment Bill, Labour Amendment Bill and Electricity Amendment Bill.

Zvamaida Murwira-Senior Reporter

HARMONISED elections are set to be held between July 26 and August 26 this year, with preparatory work now at an advanced stage, President Mnangagwa has said.

As the country draws closer to the elections, significant investments and economic growth has been registered despite illegal sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe by Western capitals, whose wish was to see the country collapsing and people turning against the ruling Zanu PF party.

President Mnangagwa said this yesterday while addressing a Political Actors Dialogue (POLAD) Executive plenary meeting held at State House in Harare.

“The preparatory work by the Government for holding this year’s harmonised elections is now at an advanced stage. We expect that elections will be held in the period between July 26 and August 26,” he said. 

“That is according to the Constitution. I am releasing the information bit by bit. Government will extend an invitation to all eligible groups who may be interested in witnessing our elections in accordance with our electoral law.

“Our Civil Registry Department is working tirelessly to meet the requirement of national documents.” 

President Mnangagwa said in the past, over 300 000 people used to be on the waiting list for passports, but since the establishment of 14 centres across the country including for electronic-passports, there now are more uncollected passports than people who want to apply for the travel document.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), he said, was equally playing its part to ensure a flawless election.

“ZEC, as an independent commission, is also undertaking its mandate to ensure free and fair elections. My dear principals, let us be ready to defend our integrity from our detractors who have already started persecuting us by spreading unfounded claims that our elections will not be free and fair even before we have finished preparations for them,” said President Mnangagwa.

He implored political leaders to denounce political violence at all times.

“As leaders of political parties, we should publicly condemn any action that may undermine the credibility of our elections. 

“Those bent on fomenting chaos during this period, be rest assured that the law enforcement agencies will be deployed,” said President Mnangagwa.

POLAD, he said, is a platform for all political parties that contested the 2018 general elections and those who failed to come on board did so voluntarily.

“POLAD is an institution that is open to all political parties as demonstrated by my invitation at its inception to all principals of political parties that contested the previous elections. Those parties that chose not to participate refrained on their own volition and not because of our objection,” said President Mnangagwa.

The President chronicled several developments registered by the Second Republic despite the illegal sanctions imposed on Harare by Western nations.

The developments are in various economic sub-sectors ranging from energy, agriculture, education, manufacturing, and the diplomatic front, among others.

On energy, he outlined several measures and projects including the Muzarabani project and the discussion he held with his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyuse, about Mphanda Nkuwa Dam that he said Zimbabwe will soon benefit from, under a partnership arrangement with Maputo.

“These sanctions continue to impact negatively on our country as an investment destination. But despite these sanctions, we now have more investment than before sanctions. If I may say, the level of investment now; we never achieved that under the First Republic, meaning the investing public is getting tired of being lectured by some Western countries,” said President Mnangagwa.

“The country remains under virtual microscope by our detractors who manipulated the media and are funding civil society. They expected us to collapse but Zimbabwe was one of the fastest growing economies in Sadc last year, (and) this angered those that want us to fall”.

President Mnangagwa said Government was ready to welcome back those in the Diaspora facing deportation such as Zimbabweans in South Africa, adding that he had since engaged his counterpart President Cyril Ramaphosa, to say Harare stands ready to receive its citizens.

Various measures have been put in place for a hassle free return of those whose exemption permits are due to expire at the end of June.

In an interview after the meeting, POLAD member, Professor Lovemore Madhuku, said their discussion centred on issues affecting ordinary citizens and was happy that President Mnangagwa had committed himself to address them.

“What came out is a very clear commitment from the President that he will attend to the issues that we raised. We raised issues to do with economic performance, governance framework, real welfare of people, and the President took note and committed to address them. 

“We have also taken issue with other people who want to undermine the interests of the country,” said Prof Madhuku.

He said they were not preoccupied with the absence of other political parties, but concentrating on issues meant to uplift the lives of ordinary people.

Columbus Mabika-Herald Reporter

THE independence flame is lit and yesterday began its journey from Harare by road to Mt Darwin for the historic Independence Day celebrations that will, for the first time in history, be held in a rural setting.

Last year, the Independence Celebrations were in Bulawayo, in line with President Mnangagwa’s stance of “leaving no one and no place behind”.

In the same spirit, next Tuesday, Zimbabwe will mark 43 years of independence, celebrating under the theme, “Nyika Inovakwa nevene vayo; Ilizwe lakhiwa ngabanikazi balo”, an apt theme that captures the transformation the country is going through under the Second Republic.

Lighting the flame at the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences in the capital, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe executive director Dr Godfrey Mahachi said the populace is being reminded of this very important day in the history of Zimbabwe.

“The purpose of lighting the flame is to kick start the commemorations and informing the people of Zimbabwe of this very important day by bringing to their attention the independence flame which we will be taking on a roadshow to Mt Darwin via Mazowe, Bindura, Madziwa and Dotito among other places so that the general population acknowledges that this important day is coming,” he said.

“This is a very important day in the history of Zimbabwe as it provides a visible icon of the liberation struggle as well as a source of inspiration for national aspirations. We are encouraging the populace to turn up in their numbers for the big day to be presided over by President Mnangagwa.”

Dr Mahachi said this year’s commemorations are different as it will be the first time they are held in a rural setting with the President set to headline the main events, starting with a children’s party on Monday and then the main event on Tuesday.

According to the schedule, a lighting ceremony will be held at Chibondo at the Mt Darwin District Heroes Acre on Monday, and then the flame will be taken to the venue on the 18th, by athletes.

Taking children aboard the philosophy, the host province will have 400 children coming from the districts of Bindura, Mbire, Guruve, Mt Darwin, Rushinga, Shamva, Mazowe and Muzarabani, districts that are synonymous with the liberation struggle that culminated in Independence in 1980.

A day before the country celebrates its 43-year milestone, amid tangible economic development, modernisation and transformation towards Vision 2030, to become an upper-middle-class economy, President Mnangagwa will host a Children’s Party for children drawn from the country’s 10 provinces (400 each), and another 400 from the districts that form Mashonaland Central.

In line with the Government’s devolution and decentralisation thrust, the 2023 Children’s Party celebrations will be held at Pfura Stadium, Mt Darwin Centre on April 17.

The President will lead in the planting of at least 43 trees on April 17 at the Independence celebrations venue to mark 43 years of Independence.

An assortment of fruit trees will be planted at the Mt Darwin High School orchard.

And on the 18th, the most important day on the country’s calendar, President Mnangagwa will lead proceedings at the stadium where final touches are being put in place to ensure the turf meets the standards of the country’s Premier Soccer League.

This is because later in the day, after the formal proceedings, the country’s most popular teams Dynamos and Highlanders will lock horns for the Uhuru Trophy.

Musicians from across the country will then entertain the crowds at the Uhuru Gala which will have a flavour of Mashonaland Central, notably Njerema Boys, who hail from Njerama Hills in Muzarabani.

Sungura maestro Alick Macheso will also provide entertainment for the main Independence celebrations.

They will be complemented by a Cultural act of 100 artistes who will synchronise with the 500 school children doing gymnastics, and supported by the Zimbabwe Republic Police band.

Yeukai Karengezeka-Court Correspondent 

Two teenage boys from Christon Bank have appeared in court for allegedly killing an older acquaintance, Nisand Maruza (25), by stabbing him with two knives on the chest and in the back after a misunderstanding.

The incident took place on a farm compound on the northern outskirts of Harare. The cousins both, aged 15, appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi charged with murder.

They were remanded in custody to June 27 and were advised to apply for bail at the High Court.

One of the alleged killers is a Form Three student, while his co-accused is a former school drop out who is now doing Grade 7. The State alleged that on April 6, one of the boys was slapped once on the face by Mr Maruza after a misunderstanding and this triggered a fight.

Mr Maruza had been sitting near a tuckshop where he observed the two teenagers arguing with two other people. He is reported to have reprimanded them and went on to slap one. 

The other teenager joined the fight and the cousins both produced knives and pinned Mr Maruza against a wall.

One of the boys stabbed him on the chest while the other stabbed him in the back.

The boys ran away after Mr Maruza collapsed and while unconscious was taken by a friend, Lawrence Mwale, to his father Nyikadzino Maruza who observed a wound and blood on his chest. 

The two rushed the attack victim to Christon Bank clinic where he was pronounced dead on arrival by the sister-in-charge.

Residents spotted the accused persons in the farm compound and effected a citizen’s arrest before handing them over to Marlborough Police.