Tensions are reportedly on the rise within ZANU PF ahead of the party’s Politburo meeting set for this Wednesday.
This comes amid reports of anger and bitterness emanating from the 28 December 2021 polls that were marred by allegations of vote-buying, rigging, name-dropping of President Emmerson Mnangagwa by some candidates and security sector involvement.
National political commissar Mike Bimha’s office was reportedly overwhelmed with complaints of electoral irregularities.
In a letter dated 30 December 2021, addressed to Bimha, aspiring provincial chairperson for Matabeleland North province Believe Gaule Ncube highlighted several irregularities during the elections. He wrote:
Following the just-ended provincial elections to elect ZANU PF provincial leadership, in the case of Matabeleland North province, there has been a series of gross irregularities, omissions of justice and commissions of injustices by certain individuals campaigning for the opponent candidate, namely Cde Richard Moyo, who is also Minister for Provincial Affairs.
The uncalled for behaviour is deployed to ensure that by all means necessary, there will be an unjust victory for the candidate in the name of Cde Richard Moyo for scrutiny of the election process and nullity of an unfair outcome.
…There was gross intimidation of the electorate that supported and preferred me Cde Believe Gaule.
Two days before the election in question, the opposing candidate Cde Richard Moyo’s campaign team made claims that the party does not allow anyone to oppose and compete with a minister in an election.
They went on to claim that Richard Moyo is the President’s choice, and he has been endorsed by the President.
To many, voting otherwise could be seen as opposing the word of the President and first secretary of the party HE Cde E.D Mnangagwa.
There is recorded audio in support of this and witnesses (those who were addressed on that particular day) abusing the President’s name for private gain cannot and must not be tolerated.
There was a deliberate distortion of voter credentials, where some voters who were expected to vote for me had their names and surnames correctly captured in the register, but their national identity numbers had been deliberately wrongly captured, rendering them ineligible to vote.
It is absurd for one to accept that the whole province had a total of 10 000 votes cast. It is worth noting that money was a game-changer as Cde Richard Moyo’s campaign team paid the election facilitators to aid in the rigging process.
Ncube also claimed that police officers manning the Nkayi South polling stations told the voters to vote for Moyo saying going against the minister was going against Mnangagwa.
Manicaland provincial chairperson Mike Madiro, who was announced the winner according to preliminary results, also raised similar allegations.
He accused former national commissar Engelbert Rugeje of presiding over biased polls in the province.