PRESS STATEMENT

By PTUZ

19 June 2013

NON-SANCTION OF THE PLANNED MARCH TO MINISTER COLTART’S OFFICE

The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) has refused to sanction the Wednesday, 19th of June 2013 march to Minister of Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Honourable Senator David Coltart’s office by members of the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) to present a petition following the ongoing arbitrary transfer of teachers in the Harare Metropolitan Province since the beginning of this second school term.

PTUZ had formally informed both the Minister and his permanent secretary, Mrs Constance Chigwamba in writing on 13 June 2013 about the planned march. A notification letter was also written to the police on 12 June 2013 in terms of the requirements of the Public Order and Security Act [Chapter 11:17].

This refusal by the police came as a shock to PTUZ as the Minister had written on 13 June 2013 agreeing to receive the petition. “I hereby acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 13th June 2013 informing me about your member’s plans to present a petition to the Ministry. I will make myself available to receive the petition. In this regard, I hereby advise you to liaise with my office closely so that I know what time you will be coming to avoid double-booking myself,” reads Minister Coltart’s response to PTUZ. It was for this reason that plans for the march were made.

It was only this morning that the PTUZ Information, Education and Research Officer, Fannuel Mabhugu was called by the police to report to the Harare Central Police Station to collect the response from the police. He was informed that the police could not grant the PTUZ its request because of a critical shortage of “human and material resources” to monitor the march since President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai had functions at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) and the Jubilee Centre respectively. We are shocked that the police are saying this when they have always told the nation that the force is more than ready to deal with an eventuality. It is also disappointing that the police continues to invoke the draconian legislation to prevent workers and citizens from exercising their democratic right to assemble and protest.

We are, therefore, left with no option but to file a High Court interdict against the police so that the law courts may be the final arbiter to the impasse. Right there is a truck-load of police officers in riot gear at Africa Unity Square ready to deal with the situation should we choose to defy the order. This is contrary to their argument that they are under-staffed. We cannot just sit and watch our members being victimized by overzealous and corrupt officials in the Ministry of Education.

RAYMOND MAJONGWE, SECRETARY GENERAL

The Zimbabwean

By Victor Chimbamu

19 June 2013

As we gathered outside the Zimbabwe Embassy for yet another wet Vigil the skies suddenly cleared and the sun broke through. We arrived generally pessimistic about the SADC summit in Maputo but before the day was out our opinions changed.

“It has been an incredible and unbelievable day,” wrote Tendai Biti on his Facebook page. “SADC rose to the occasion and scuttled the evil and Machiavellian machinations of the chaos faction of Zanu (PF).” First reports say that Mugabe arrived at the meeting with the biggest entourage of any leader. But President Zuma was ready for them and they were soon put in their place.

Biti said all President Zuma’s recommendations were adopted, including a demand that the Constitutional Court be requested to postpone elections for 14 days to enable reforms to be made.

The security forces would be required to publicly affirm their commitment to the rule of law, SADC observers were to be deployed immediately and SADC representatives were to sit in JOMIC and not merely to receive reports as demanded by Zanu PF. Commenting on the development, MDC Education Minister David Coltart tweeted: “There are three reasons why SADC resolution is critically important; Firstly, it is a victory for the respect for the rule of law and the new Constitution; secondly, it means that voter registration and roll inspection can be completed before nomination day and, thirdly, it constitutes a major political faux pas by Zanu (PF) hardliners and will be damaging and embarrassing.”

The Vigil is grateful to President Zuma for standing up to Zanu (PF). Although they will still do everything they can to prevent free and fair elections, at least we know we are not alone.

FOR THE RECORD: 37 signed the register.

News Day

By Dumisani Sibanda

19 June 2013

AS the chorus for a coalition of the two MDCs and three other parties to confront Zanu PF ahead of the elections grows, the political parties’ leaders yesterday met in Harare for the third time to thrash out their grand plan for the polls.

MDC-T president Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC leader Welshman Ncube, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn president Simba Makoni and Zanu Ndonga chair Reketayi Semwayo attended the closed-door meeting at a local hotel.

Zapu president Dumiso Dabengwa, whose party is part of the group opposed to President Robert Mugabe’s unilateral decision to proclaim July 31 as the harmonised election date and amendments on electoral laws in line with the new Constitution, was represented.

Tsvangirai, Ncube and Makoni refused to talk to the media as they left the meeting venue, but sources said the meeting was exploring the possibility of the grand coalition following their successful joint effort to convince the Southern African Development Community to pressure Mugabe to review the poll date and reverse his stance to stampede the countryinto elections.

“The leaders, in the true spirit of national interest, have decided to have their negotiations off the public glare, that is why this time there is no Press conference to announce the outcome of the meeting,” the sources told NewsDay.

Another source privy to the details of the discussions said: “I can tell you that something is being cooked and when it is ready to eat, you will all be invited to the party.”

Some senior officials from the two MDC parties in the inclusive government were reportedly interested in the coalition with the likes of Education minister David Coltart openly supporting the initiative.

Talk of the coalition is reported to have sent chills in the spine of Zanu PF with activists from the former ruling party in Mbare confiscating copies of yesterday’s issue of NewsDay for carrying a story about today’s meetings on the coalition.

The Zimbabwean

By Mkhululi Chimoio

19 June 2013

Minister David Coltart believes it would be wrong to withdraw from politics when there is so much unfinished business. He told Mkhululi Chimoio he did not think the struggle for democracy would take so long and that he feels an obligation to see it through to completion.

(MC): What inspired you to join politics?

(DC): I come from a political family. My grandfather ran for political office in Scotland and just before the Second World War became deputy Lord Provost (Deputy Mayor) of Edinburgh. Although my father never ran for office, he always took a keen interest in politics. He opposed UDI and as a bank manager in the 1960s he was ironically warned by the CIO not to loan Joshua Nkomo money. We always had very keen political debates in our home.

When I went to Cape Town University in South Africa I got involved in student politics and ended up as chairman of the Zimbabwe society, an organisation which represented the interests of Zimbabwean students. I was threatened with deportation by the apartheid government in 1981 when I encouraged Zimbabweans to return home. On my return to Zimbabwe in 1983, I was the campaign manager for Bob Nixon in a by-election; he was the first independent white candidate to beat the RF. In the 1985 election I ended up as the campaign manager for the entire independent group who opposed the RF.

In the same year, I received instructions from ZAPU for the first time to represent members of the Central committee such as Sydney Malunga and Stephen Nkomo who had been detained. Although I never joined ZAPU, I ended up representing many members of the Central committee and on one occasion Joshua Nkomo himself.

When Enock Dumbutshena established the Forum Party in the early 1990s I was asked to be its legal adviser and I also drafted its first manifesto and policy document. Although I became a member of the forum party I never held any office in that party. In 1999, Gibson Sibanda and Morgan Tsvangirai asked me to become the founding legal secretary of the MDC, which I became at the launch of the party in September 1999.

At the inaugural congress of the MDC in January 2000 I was elected as its first legal secretary. That was the first political office I held. I was then elected in 2000, 2005 and 2008. After the split of the MDC I did not attend the Congress of either of the factions in 2006 but when I eventually decided to join the smaller faction I was appointed legal secretary, a post I was re-elected to in the 2011 Congress and a position I still hold.

Can you tell us more about your political journey so far?

It is not easy being an opposition politician in Zimbabwe. Even before I took formal office I enjoyed a variety of trials simply as a lawyer who represented politicians. As far back as 1984 I feared for my life. In February 1989 I was threatened with detention for the first time. In 1994 I received my first death threat. I was publicly vilified by President Mugabe on television in 1998 and several times subsequently. The run up to the June 2000 election was particularly stressful. Just before the election one of my polling agents, Patrick Nabanyama, was abducted by war veterans and has never been seen again. My family and I received threats including one to burn down our home.

When Cain Nkala was murdered in 2001 I was subjected to a variety of threats. On one occasion when I was flying back to Bulawayo on a private aircraft the aircraft had to return to Harare after the pilot received a threat that we would be shot down if I was not returned to Harare.

In March 2003 an attempt was made on my life outside my home in the presence of two of my children. Although there has been a reduction in the level of threats in recent years, in May last year the front left wheel of my vehicle was tampered with causing it to come off.

What motivates you to contest in the upcoming elections and do you think your party will do well?

When I took a political office for the first time in 1999 I did not anticipate that the struggle to bring democracy to Zimbabwe would last as long as it has. I feel an obligation to see the struggle through. It would be wrong to withdraw from politics when there is so much unfinished business.

I’m also aware of the huge sacrifices made by many compatriots, many of whom have suffered greatly. It is important that their sacrifices should not have been in vain.

I am realistic about how the party I represent will perform in the upcoming elections. We face many challenges; unlike the two biggest parties, Zanu (PF) and MDC-T, we are not well funded and do not enjoy the unwavering support of some media organisations. However, our party leadership has worked particularly hard and I think that we could cause some surprises in certain constituencies.

How have you promoted service delivery in your Khumalo area?

As a senator I have a much larger constituency than an MP. Since being elected as Senator of Khumalo I have run a humanitarian fund that pays medical treatment fees, school fees and university fees for disadvantaged members of my constituency. In May 2009, I organised one of the largest cleanups of central Bulawayo. As Minister of sport I lobbied for and arranged the rehabilitation of the Khumalo Hockey Stadium, which has been re-established as a world-class venue. That in turn enabled my constituency to host the Africa Olympic hockey qualifying tournament in 2011.

I have taken a particular interest in the rehabilitation of Bulawayo airport and in that regard have continually visited the site and lobbied Cabinet to complete the project.

I have successfully lobbied Cabinet to reward the zone six Games in 26 to Bulawayo and this will result in a $42 million investment in NUST and sports facilities throughout Bulawayo. I should mention that also in all the various parastatal Boards I have appointed I have made sure that there has been fair regional and gender representation on those boards.

What are your aims for the country?

I’m deeply passionate about Zimbabwe. I believe in this nation and its people. I often say that this should be the jewel of Africa because it has all the necessary ingredients. The only missing ingredient has been democracy. When we create a genuine democracy in Zimbabwe, a tolerant genuinely free nation this country will boom. My personal aim is to do all I can to turn Zimbabwe into the best nation in Africa and a nation that can compete with the very best worldwide.

What challenges have you failed to overcome since you attained office?

While I have had some success in stabilising and improving the education, sporting, arts and culture sectors since taking office there are many projects and policies I would like to have implemented which I have not managed to do. For example, the pressing policy need of reviewing and reforming Zimbabwe’s education curriculum has not been implemented yet.

My goal of establishing academies has barely got off the ground. It is not really appropriate to discuss the reasons why I have encountered these obstacles in detail at this juncture but suffice it to say that some of the reasons include deliberate obstruction by some who clearly do not want them to succeed.

Are you optimistic that the community will elect you again?

I think it is dangerous for any politician to be complacent. While I hope that the Bulawayo electorate will return me to office if I stand, I recognise that it is anything but a foregone conclusion. I also recognise that to be re-elected I will have to overcome a variety of obstacles. My only hope is that the electorate will recognise what I have tried to do for Bulawayo, Matabeleland and Zimbabwe since returning to Zimbabwe in 1983. I hope that they will recognise that I am deeply committed to this community and this nation and that I have worked hard to achieve community and national goals.

Biography

Born in Gweru on the October 4, 1957, Coltart attended Hillside Primary School and Christian Brothers College in Bulawayo. He is currently married to Jennifer Reine Coltart and they have four children. He holds a BA (Law) degree from University of Cape Town and an LLB (Postgraduate degree) from the University of Cape Town.

Southern Eye

By Fortune Mbele

18 June 2013

FORMER Warriors coach and Zifa technical director Gibson Homela has blamed the national football governing body for the Warriors failure saying the deep-seated problems bedevilling football in the country needed wide consultations with knowledgeable sports persons for the growth of the game.

The Warriors crashed out of the World Cup qualifiers for the umpteenth time, losing their last two matches in eight days — 2-4 to Egypt at home on June 9 and 2-0 to Guinea in Conakry — where they travelled with a depleted squad following chaotic preparations by Zifa for the tie.

The veteran Fifa instructor yesterday told Southern Eye Sport that success for the senior national football team was not in sight in the near future as long as Zifa, led by Cuthbert Dube, behaved incompetently.

“It is clear that we still have challenges in assembling a team and this muddling starts with Zifa. They display amateurish standards as far as I am concerned. For instance, how does a player lose his passport?

“In our days it was known that the manager is in charge of passports. What we are witnessing is an amateurish way of doing things. We are just doing things randomly. Zifa is bungling and I think a neutral man with a lot of experience in football is needed for the reconstruction of the Warriors,” Homela said.

Homela, who played for the national team and Zimbabwe Saints during his days, said football administration in the country needed a “Caesarean Section”.

He took a shot at the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture ministry saying they were not playing their part in ensuring the national team’s success.

“People need to consult further. A Caesarean Section of the whole system is called for with all stakeholders taking part — PSL (Premier Soccer League) leaders and football veterans — who can contribute positively towards the growth of the game. The sports ministry has also not done any enforcing.

“They are the biggest culprits. Maybe, they should just drop the sport and just be an education and culture ministry. These people running our football are not properly guided,” Homela said.

Concerning the latest gaffe by Zifa, Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister David Coltart said his ministry had not been approached for assistance.

Homela was Warriors coach between 1985 and 1988 on a part-time basis, resigning at the end of that year after being employed by Edgars.

He then returned into the national frame as Zifa technical director between 2002 and 2006. He is chairman at Zimbabwe Saints and last week, he held a Level Two Coaching Course in Kadoma which ended on Sunday.

Southern Eye

By Njabulo Ncube

18 June 2013

SADC’s request to President Robert Mugabe to return to the Constitutional Court (Concourt) to seek a two-week extension on its order for elections to be held by July 31, further throws the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis into fresh confusion and political turmoil, analysts said yesterday.

Sadc leaders, meeting in Maputo, Mozambique, on Saturday, also directed that the agreed amendments to the Electoral Act, which had been made into law by Mugabe using the Presidential Powers (Temporal Measures) Act be brought to Parliament today for debate and adoption.

But as the MDCs savour what they perceive as a victory in Maputo — thanks to an unlikely alliance between Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, the leader of the MDC —analysts say it is mission impossible implementing long outstanding reforms in the Global Political Agreement (GPA) within a short period of time after the partners in the power-sharing pact failed to do so in almost five years.

Analysts expressed fears the Sadc recommendation could be a ruse of a compromise by regional leaders intended to placate all the partners in the GPA.
But analysts pointed out the Maputo decision would create further confusion, accusations and counter-accusations with Zanu PF and the MDCs grandstanding on the latest Sadc summit resolutions.

They said focus should shift to the Concourt on how it handles the Sadc directive.

Questions abound what would happen if the supreme court of law in the country failed to grant Justice minister Patrick Chinamasa the recommended extension of the poll date.

David Coltart, the MDC legal affairs secretary who also doubles-up as the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture minister, yesterday feared that by the time the Concourt had heard and ruled on the case the original dates would be impossible to fulfil in any event.

“The timeframes were virtually impossible to comply with from the beginning, so this agreement throws the whole process into further confusion,” he said.

Bekithemba Mpofu, a founding MDC Youth Assembly secretary-general, now teaching at Reading University in the United Kingdom, said the interpretation of the Sadc leaders’ referral of the election date to the Concourt presented a tough scenario that required sober legal minds.

He said it was ironic that Zanu PF will have to make a request for an extension at a time when many believed they were wounded in Maputo.

“That said, we have to trust the Constitutional Court’s ability to review the judgement given practical challenges of implementing it at this moment in time,” Mpofu said.

“If in their best judgment, the court believes it is possible to hold the elections on July 31, then any challenge will plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.”

The regional leaders also recommended that the Sadc facilitation team and the troika team appointed in Livingstone, Zambia, sit in Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (Jomic) and not merely receive reports as demanded by Zanu PF and that an Inter-Ministerial Committee be appointed to deal with implementation of agreed issues on media reform and the monitoring of hate speech in all media, among other resolutions.

Mpofu predicted a fast-tracking of reforms and the resolution of their concerns.

Rashweat Mukundu, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, said if the Concourt refuses to grant the extension the MDCs will have to make a choice on whether to plunge into an uncertain and lopsided election or boycott.

“Both options pose their own challenges more so the possibility of giving Zanu PF a free reign should they boycott, and should they participate they will legitimise the process. These are hard decisions that have to be made,” he said.

Trevor Maisiri, an analyst with the International Crisis Group, weighed in, saying the most viable options are to get Sadc monitors and observers on the ground, as well as have Sadc officials permanently joining Jomic within the next 10 days. He said this will give them time to monitor and observe the contentious voter registration process as well as whether the environment was conducive for elections.

“I think any arguments around election dates are lesser in value than pushing for Sadc to be on the ground,” Maisiri said.

News Day

By Fortune Mbele

178June 2013

FORMER Warriors coach and Zifa technical director Gibson Homela has blamed the domestic football governing body for the Warriors’ failures, saying the deep-seated problems bedevilling football in the country needed wide consultations with knowledgeable sportspersons for the revival and growth of the game.

The Warriors crashed out of the World Cup qualifiers for the umpteenth time, losing their last two matches in eight days 2-4 to Egypt at home on June 9 and 1-0 to Guinea in Conakry where they travelled with a depleted squad following chaotic preparations by Zifa for the tie.

The veteran Fifa instructor yesterday told NewsDay Sport that success for the senior national team was not in sight in the near future as long as the football authorities in the country behaved incompetently.

“It is clear that we still have challenges in assembling a team and this muddling starts with Zifa. They are amateurish standards as far as I am concerned. For instance, how does a player lose his passport?
“In our days it was known that the manager is in charge of the passports.

“What we are harvesting is the amateurish way of doing things. We are just doing things randomly. Zifa is bungling and I think a neutral man with a lot of experience in football is needed for the reconstruction of the Warriors,” Homela said.

Homela, who played for the national team and Zimbabwe Saints during his days, said football administration in the country needed a “Caesarean section”.

He is an ex-member of the Zifa high performance technical team together with the likes of former player and coach Misheck Chidzambwa.

Homela also took aim at the Education, Sport, Arts and Culture ministry which he said was also not playing its part in ensuring the national team’s success.

“People need to consult further. A Caesarean section of the whole system is called for with all stakeholders taking part: Premier Soccer League bosses and football veterans, among others, who can contribute positively towards the growth of the game. The ministry has also not done any enforcing.

“They are the biggest culprits. Maybe they should just drop the Sports and just be an Education and Culture ministry and these people who are running our football are not properly guided,” Homela said.

Amid the latest gaffe by Zifa, Education, Sport, Art and Culture minister David Coltart said his ministry had not been approached for assistance.

Homela was the Warriors coach from 1985 to 1988 on a part-time basis, resigning at the end of that year after he was employed by a clothing retail chain and then became the Zifa technical director from 2002 to 2006 before stepping down.

He is chairman at Chikwata and from last week on Monday, he conducted a Level Two coaching course in Kadoma which ended on Sunday.

In the Group G Africa 2014 World Cup qualifiers, Zimbabwe have played five matches and have only managed one draw, salvaging a meagre point from Mozambique away from home, and lost both home and away to Egypt and Guinea.

They host Mozambique in the remaining match on September 6.

Coaches that include Norman Mapeza, Madinda Ndlovu, Rahman Gumbo and incumbent Klaus Dieter Pagels have been thrown into the fray with no consistency and continuity in the Warriors camp.

News Day

By Wellington Toni 

17 June 2013

YESTERDAY’S Warriors disaster in Guinea was always in the making, following revelations that players were paid their allowances late for the Egypt match and had threatened to withdraw their services for last night’s match.

Reliable sources have informed NewsDay Sport that the players were only paid their allowances on Saturday — 24 hours before the match, while they received complimentary tickets from the national association at 10am — just a few hours before the match.

As if that was not enough, technical director Nelson Matongorere and team manager Sharif Mussa had to fork out money from their personnel pockets to buy fuel for the team to travel to training sessions at the National Sports Stadium from a local lodge.

“This explains why Peter (Ndlovu, assistant coach) and Pagels (Klaus, coach) were angry when Zifa CEO Jonathan Mashingaidze wanted to apportion blame on Matongorere.

“Players were not given complimentary tickets until 10am on match day. There was a lot of discomfort in camp that led to the heavy defeat,” sources said yesterday.

Mashingaidze questioned the presence of Matongorere on the Warriors bench during the Egypt tie.

Matongorere travelled with the team to Malawi and Zambia and also sat on the bench. Matongorere and Mussa did not travel with the national team to Guinea on Saturday morning.

Usual benefactor Zifa president Cuthbert Dube is away in Brazil for the 2013 Confederations Cup where he is a member of the organising committee.

Zimbabwe Football Trust chairman Tshinga Dube said all was in order.

“Everything has been taken care of,” he said on Friday.

NewsDay Sport then engaged Xolisani Gwesela, the new Zifa communications and media manager, on the issues raised, to no joy, referring all issues back to the technical team.

Minister of Education, Sport, Art and Culture David Coltart told this publication on Friday that he had not received any letter from the football trust requesting assistance.

But the timeline of events after the 4-2 home drubbing by Egypt reveal that this was disorder of the highest proportions.

The hosting of Egypt gobbled $234 000.

For the trip to Guinea, they needed $184 000, but they could only raise $100 000.

BancABC, a regional banking giant and sponsors of Castle Premiership clubs Dynamos, Highlanders, Black Mambas and a Super Eight competition, are reliably understood to have chipped in at the last moment with an unspecified amount of money to bail out Zifa.

MONDAY JUNE 10 — Warriors return to training after the loss to Egypt.

TUESDAY JUNE 11 — Warriors training in full swing at the National Sports Stadium, but Khama Billiat and Mathew Rusike are ruled out due to injuries. Chief striker Knowledge Musona also does not take part in the morning training session, although he is expected to travel.

WEDNESDAY JUNE 12 — At 1328hours, Zifa releases a statement that details the Warriors departure for Guinea the following day. It said the Warriors would depart on June 13 and arrive on June 14 in Conakry. The statement listed 33 people on the flight — five officials, eight technical members, 18 players and two journalists.

THURSDAY JUNE 13 — No trip. The Warriors are back in training at the Italian Sports Club late in the afternoon after only 16 tickets were secured — 12 for players and four for officials. The trip is rescheduled to Friday.

FRIDAY JUNE 14 — Pandhari Lodge asks the Warriors to leave their lodgings to make way for other parties that had booked the place as the Warriors try to organise a late training session at the NSS. Eventually, Pandhari gives them their courtesy bus which they use to go for training at 1500hrs.

There, coach Klaus Dieter Pagels, technical director Nelson Matongorere, team manager Sharif Mussa, assistants Lloyd Mutasa and Peter Ndlovu are engaged in serious discussions amid a flurry of phone calls on the trip, while the players continue their warm up on the field of play.

Zifa communications manager Xolisani Gwesela confirms late in the evening that the team would leave aboard Kenyan Airways and were expected in Conakry on Saturday night. And everybody thought things, at least, were in order at the final hour.

Indications though had been that 14 players would travel, then 12 was the number being toyed around with later until Zifa release the following statement.

“The team will leave on Kenyan Airways at 0210hrs and arrive in Nairobi at 0615hrs. They will depart Nairobi at 0845hrs and arrive in Dakar, Senegal at 1530hrs.

They will then leave the Senegalese capital at 1920hrs and arrive in Conakry at 2115hrs,” Gwesela said then. “The delegation is made up of 25 members.”

This delegation supposedly included 18 players and seven officials.

SATURDAY JUNE 15 — 0200hrs — Knowlegde Musona, Ovidy Karuru and Patson Jaure are dropped from the squad due to injuries leaving only 15 players to make the trip. Hardlife Zvirekwi then loses his passport in Senegal.

SUNDAY JUNE 16 — News from Guinea is that both Washington Arubi and Max Nyamupanedengu — both goalkeepers will be fielded during the match.

The Chronicle

By The Chronicle Reporter

17 June 2013

MDC led by Professor Welshman Ncube yesterday held its primary elections in Bulawayo with the party’s organising secretary Mr Esaph Mdlongwa losing the elections. Mr Mdlongwa was a distant third after Ms Loyiswa Ncube won the right to represent the party in the National Assembly in Pumula constituency.

Ms Ncube polled 123 votes beating Mr Blessed Ushe who got 79 votes while 63 people voted for Mr Mdlongwa.

The elections were dominated by women who won in five constituencies out of the eight constituencies where primaries were conducted.

The constituencies where primaries were held were Pumula, Mpopoma/ Pelandaba, Bulawayo South, Emakhandeni, Bulawayo Central, Nketa,  Luveve and Bulawayo East.

In Nketa constituency Mr Charles Mpofu polled 90 votes, beating former Bulawayo deputy Mayor Mr Angilacala Ndlovu, who got 51 votes.

In Mpopoma/Pelandaba, Ms Duduzile Dube polled 74 votes against Ms Patricia Tshabalala’s 54 votes.

In Bulawayo South, Ms Esnath Bulayani won the election after polling 151 votes against Mr John Mpala’s 69 votes.

In Emakhandeni constituency, Ms Cristabel Sibutha polled 170 votes beating Mr Lot Dumani who got 87 while in Bulawayo Central constituency, Ms Sibongile Maphosa was unopposed.

In Luveve constituency, there was a consensus that Mr Israel Mabaleka, the councillor for Ward 15 will run unopposed.

Senator David Coltart was also unopposed in Bulawayo East constituency.

The party’s director of policy and research, Mr Qhubani Moyo said the party failed to secure venues to conduct primaries for Nkulumane, Lobengula and Magwegwe constituencies and the primaries for the three constituencies would be held during the week or at the weekend. “The elections were peaceful and fair and everyone accepted the results and pledged to support those who won,” said Mr Moyo.