Tshabangu donates five council wards to Zanu PF

Supporters of the opposition have expressed concern after Zanu PF automatically won five council seats in Harare, Chiredzi, and Manyame RDC as a result of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) disqualifying Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidates in response to a court order and Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-imposed interim secretary general of the CCC, failing to field his own candidates in the designated wards.

ZEC Chief Elections Officer Utoile Silaigwana announced the ward-by-ward victories of the five Zanu PF candidates in a notice.

“The public is hereby informed that following the High Court Order issued on the 19th of January 2024 under Case number HCH197/24, the nomination of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party candidates specified in Schedule 1 below who had been nominated for elections in by-elections scheduled for the 3rd of February 2024 has been set aside,” Silaigwana declared.

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He went on to list the ousted CCC candidates as Musingashari Musingashari (Chiredzi Ward 6), Roger Chikonye (Chiredzi Ward 7), Samuel Gwenzi (Harare Municipality Ward 5), Ian Makone (Harare Ward 18) and Innocent Kuziva Haparari (Manyame RDC).

Silaigwana added, “Consequently, the public is hereby notified, in terms of section 125 (4)(a) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13), that since only one candidate has been duly nominated for each of the specified vacant wards, the persons specified in Schedule 2 below have been duly elected as members of the local authorities with effect from 3 February 2024.”

Zanu PF councillors who have been declared winners of the respective council seats are Costen Mombe (Chiredzi Ward 6), Brighton Nyashadzashe Mahiya (Chiredzi Ward 7), Abdurrahman Sapa (Harare Ward 5), Rufaro Daniel Matsika (Harare Ward 18) and Simbarashe Ngarande (Manyame RDC).

Zimbabwe heads for parliamentary and council by-elections in different parts of the country February 3 after Tshabangu ordered recalls on dozens of representatives elected on a CCC ticket during national elections August last year.

Following their recalls, the ousted 23 CCC politicians defiantly filed for nomination under their party arguing they were genuinely under the Nelson Chamisa led party which gave them the mandate to seek election.

But Tshabangu went to the courts to file for their ejection from the ballot arguing they could not contest the poll under the same party that recalled them.

Commenting on the developments, Bulawayo mayor and veteran opposition politician David Coltart suggested Tshabangu was out to serve Zanu PF interests.

“Tshabangu did not field any candidates in these five wards and yet went to court to block the CCC candidates from running, meaning that all these wards now have Zanu PF councillors without a single ballot being cast. Any doubt whose interests he is he serving?” Coltart said.

Hopewell Chin’ono says this is a sign that democracy is being dismantled in Zimbabwe and he also called on the Common Wealth to reconsider readmitting Zimbabwe.

Anyone who still thinks that Sengezo Tshabangu is resolving undemocratic issues in the main opposition CCC needs to have their head examined at Ingutsheni.

Sengezo Tshabangu ILLEGALLY recalled 5 elected CCC councillors in these 5 wards, on account of so called party impositions.

He went to court to block genuine CCC representatives from contesting in the upcoming by-elections which he triggered with the help of ZANUPF and captured state institutions, and he did so without even having fielded any contestants.

So essentially he gifted these 5 wards to ZANUPF, this is democracy being ripped apart right before the eyes of the whole world including the @commonwealthsec which the ZANUPF regime wants to join.

How does anyone sane support this retrogressive political charlatan who is removing elected officials to benefit a corrupt ruling party that has torn the country’s right for political representation into pieces?

Essentially Tshabangu has taken away the right for communities to have someone who speaks on their behalf.

ZANUPF is happy because nobody will challenge its corrupt political rule as a representative of those communities.

Sickening!!!