Zanu PF maintains control in rural Zimbabwe

Zanu PF maintains control in rural Zimbabwe

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S ruling Zanu PF party maintained control of the country's rural electorate after comprehensively defeating the opposition and winning many other wards unopposed in rural council elections held over the weekend.

Zanu PF also won the Kadoma mayoral election where the party's candidate, Fani Phiri, polled 4 614 votes to the MDC candidate Jonas Ndenda's 2 491.

Kadoma has 42 000 registered voters.

The MDC which has split into two groups -- one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and another led by Arthur Mutambara -- fielded 872 candidates in the 59 rural district councils. Zanu PF was unopposed in 485 of the country's 1 344 wards.

The MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara claimed control of at least one rural district council, officials confirmed. The group took charge of Nkayi after gaining control of 15 wards out of the 25 available. Previously, the MDC only had two wards in Nkayi.

Nkayi MP, Abednico Bhebhe said last night: "We went into these polls partly to find out Zanu PF's rigging mechanism. We were left in no doubt that the Central Intelligence Organisation operatives are in direct command of Zanu PF structures on the ground.

"We have, however, made strides. Nkayi was a huge step forward, and we made strides in other areas and now have councillors where there was previously none."

A spokesman for Mutambara's group said they had won 47 seats in total, mainly in the opposition hotbed of Matabeleland.

Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for the rival faction of the MDC was not forthcoming with figures of wards won. In a statement, Chamisa claimed the elections were rigged by Zanu PF.

And in an interview with the Voice of America last night, Chamisa said: "Clearly as a party we are a bit sad that Zanu PF has again rigged the elections and robbed the people of victory."

Referring to his MDC faction's defeat in Kadoma, Chamisa said: "We were not shocked by what happened in Kadoma, mind you we have never managed to overcome Zanu PF's machinations of rigging. People who vote in Kadoma every election year are people who come from Mhondoro, people who come from Sanyati.

"We had over a 1 000 people turned away. We also had people with their surnames starting from A-L....the voters' roll with their names was actually missing."

Chamisa, however, claimed his group was registering "significant inroads into rural areas once regarded as the bastion of support for this repressive regime".

He said: "The results clearly show that the MDC is a reality across the length and breadth of the country. We applaud and salute the hundreds of thousands of heroes and heroines across Zimbabwe who continue to invest in the electoral route to achieve a new Zimbabwe."

Zanu PF political commissar Elliot Manyika last night dismissed suggestions of vote rigging, taunting the MDC as "cry babies".

"The MDC is now disintegrating," Manyika claimed on the Voice of America. "As you know, there is now MDC 1 and MDC 2. They always claim rigging when they lose...they are cry babies when they lose. They are just attempting to satisfy their donors."

Manyika said the election was "peaceful", adding: "We are extremely happy. This is a democratic country."

Reginald Machaba Hove of the independent electoral monitoring organisation, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network observed that there was low voter turn out across the country, with many potential voters turned away.

He said: " We noted a high number of people who were turned away, mainly because they were in the wrong ward. The opposition parties haven't done too well, although for the first time we are noticing that the MDC picked up a number of wards in a number of constituencies.

"The playing field was far from from even. It was a mammoth task indeed that the opposition parties were able to contest in over 800 wards."
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