While the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) is still choosing candidates in front of the 23 August national elections, Zanu PF is holding a winter school for its lavishly treated electoral hopefuls.
The city of Gweru in the Midlands region is hosting a week-long training on national ideology and mobilisation for Zanu PF’s 210 parliamentary candidates.
During the behind-closed-doors meeting, President Emmerson Mnangagwa spoke to the election candidates and outlined the plans his party has for the next elections.
Mike Bimha, the political commissar for Zanu PF, told journalists that the president recognized the need for leadership among the party’s young faces.
The 10 provinces of the nation have received funding from Zanu PF to support candidates throughout the election season.
They were also each handed brand-new off-road vehicles, such as Nissan Navaras, Ford Rangers, and Toyota Hilux GD6s.
About R19 000 (US$1000) is required to register as an election candidate; Zanu PF is covering the cost for its 210 candidates. More than R3.99 million ($210 000) will be involved.
There are worries that several party stalwarts were passed over by the party’s leadership during the vetting process, thus the CCC has not yet made its candidate list public.
Party leader Nelson Chamisa stated in a tweet that the party will not support any “diggers and dealers” this time around.
He continued by saying that the party would not follow individuals with self-serving agendas.
“Anyone seeking personal gain or caring for themselves will not serve… Whoever buys citizens or bribes voters with cash and gifts is ineligible to serve, the speaker declared.
Job Sikhala, one of the party’s top leaders, is still incarcerated and will reach one year on June 14.
Transform Zimbabwe (TZ), a fringe party, experienced a setback on Tuesday when the courts postponed making a decision in a case where party leader Jacob Ngarivhume was given a four-year prison sentence for “inciting violence”.
If his liberation campaign is unsuccessful, Ngarivhume will miss the general elections.
Ngarivhume was ready to post ZW$500 000 (R2 586) bail, according to his attorney, Professor Lovemore Madhuku.
The Democratic Union of Zimbabwe (DUZ) newcomer Robert Chapman asserted that the upcoming elections won’t be free and fair and charged that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is pro-Zanu PF.
At a news conference on Tuesday in Harare, Chapman stated, “We know that ZEC is not free and fair; we know that ZEC is captured.
Chapman also advocated for political groups to come together in a broad coalition in order to defeat Zanu PF.
He said:
If our ideals are compatible, the chance to form coalitions is essential.
He did point out that experienced politicians would make it difficult to forge a coalition, though.
Career politicians are participating in these conversations, and their main concern is for their own safety, he continued.
Following the party’s unsuccessful judicial attempt to postpone the voting, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Douglas Mwonzora, asserted that the elections would not be free and fair.
The party’s director of information, Chengetai Guta, stated during a Twitter event last week that was held by the Centre for Innovation and Technology (CITE), “We are not ready for elections; Zimbabweans and political parties should work together to avoid regretting this election.”
There were 23 presidential contenders in the 2018 general elections.
Since ZEC declared that a presidential contender must pay an R380 000 ($20,000) nomination fee, there are probably going to be fewer candidates this year.
