by Bruce Zvandasara
MDC Alliance Mashonaland Central Provincial Executive has attributed the embarrassing defeat in the province in the just ended July 30 harmonised elections to the lukewarm campaign strategy by their leader, Nelson Chamisa.
The revelations were at a post-mortem meeting of the elections at the party’s Bindura office this week which was attended by the winning and losing candidates.
The revelations came as a shocker as they contradict those made by their leadership which has since submitted a petition to the Constitutional Court seeking to nullify the Presidential results announced by ZEC and declare Chamisa the winner.
MDC Alliance losing candidate for Bindura North Constituency, Agrippa Mutambara acknowledged that Zanu PF still commands a lot of support in the rural and the resettlement areas. Mutambara highlighted that he only commanded support from eight wards in Bindura town.
The former soldier revealed that he did not get all the V11 forms or any report from his election agent over the election process.
“One of my election agents (name supplied) failed to submit V11 forms and a single report on the election process yet he was said to be experienced in running elections,” Mutambara said.
In Muzarabani North Constituency, the losing candidate, Agreement Kagura boldly declared that the election result from his constituency was reflective of what was transpiring on the ground.
He boldly blamed Alliance leader, Chamisa for failure to campaign vigorously in the province. He cited three Districts—Muzarabani, Rushinga and Shamva as areas where Chamisa failed to visit during the campaign period. These revelations water down Chamisa’s ConCourt petition.
Mt Darwin East losing Alliance candidate, Edward Chaukura told the Chair that Zanu PF campaign strategy appealed to the day to day demands of the electorate on a larger scale. He compared with Chamisa’s main message of spaghetti roads, homestead airports and bullet trains which he said did not address the immediate needs of the electorate and believed Zanu PF took that chance.
Mazowe West Constituency losing candidate, Ruramai Muchihwa bemoaned double-fielding of candidates which worked against the Alliance’s chances of winning. She said that other Alliance supporters decampaigned her, claiming that she was smuggled into the constituency by Provincial Youth Assembly Chairman, Tonderai Samhu. Muchihwa said that she did not acquire all the V11 forms.
The Provincial Assembly Organising Secretary, Thabani Khoza also said that the party structures, from grassroots to national level, were dysfunctional.
Meanwhile, the meeting resolved that they would rather opt for a Government of National Unity (GNU) in the event that the ConCourt orders a rerun of the presidential election.
The intention to push for GNU is an admission that the Alliance lost the elections and only wants to force Zanu PF to the negotiable table.
