Norton MP Temba Mliswa (Independent), claims the constituency delimitation exercise by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) reduced ZANU PF’s support base in Norton.
ZANU PF Mashonaland West provincial Women’s League chairperson, Constance Shamu was elected the party’s candidate for Norton in upcoming elections during primary elections held last month.
Shamu will likely face Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC)’s Richard Tsvangirai.
Posting on Twitter recently, Presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, asserted that males who are contesting against aspiring female candidates must prepare for exit. Wrote Charamba:
This year is the year of the girl child. It is our chance to equalise. As such if you are a man and you find yourself standing against a woman, you should begin packing your bag in earnest, @TembaMliswa be warned.
In response, Mliswa claimed ZANU PF lost the little support it had in Norton due to the delimitation exercise. He said:
Hijacked platitudes about the girl child, awkwardly pasted on my female senior, won’t redeem your standing as a party in Norton.
ZANU PF cannot win there especially now that the two rural wards in which it had a veneer of control are gone due to delimitation.
Mliswa owes his incumbency to the MDC Alliance’s benevolence after the opposition party opted not to field a candidate in Norton in 2018.
The outspoken former ZANU PF Mashonaland West Provincial chairman defeated the ruling party’s candidate Christopher Mutsvangwa in 2018.
More: Pindula News