2022 by-elections a waste of time and resources: Chinamasa
Zanu PF acting national commissar Patrick Chinamasa said President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s decision for the country to hold by-elections barely a year before the 2023 harmonised polls was a waste of time and resources.
This comes after Mnangagwa on Wednesday said his government had slated by-elections for the first quarter of 2022.
“We will be holding by-elections during the first quarter of 2022. As Zanu PF, we want a clean sweep of all the vacant seats,” Mnangagwa said.
But Chinamasa said it was a waste of taxpayers’ money to hold by-elections some months before the general election. He, however, noted his party was ready to defeat the opposition.
“Zanu PF wishes it to be known loud and clear that it is ready to wallop opposition parties by whatever name called and will take no prisoners,” Chinamasa said.
“But it must be put on record that the by-elections, when promulgated, will take place with barely a year to go before the 2023 harmonised elections, a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
MDC Alliance spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere told NewsDay that by-elections were likely to produce a disputed outcome if held before the implementation of electoral reforms.
“The consistent position that has been taken by the MDC Alliance is that any proclamation for elections must be accompanied by a clear reform roadmap that paves the way for an undisputed election,” Mahere told NewsDay.
“The bad governance and legitimacy crisis that continues to plague Mr Mnangagwa’s regime is a direct result of the disputed election of 2018,” she said.
By-elections were suspended last year by Vice President Constantino Chiwenga who doubles as Minister of Health, through a Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020, citing that it was a measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
During the peak of their suspension, the smaller MDC-T leaders Douglas Mwonzora and Thokozani Khupe had recalled more than half of MDC Alliance MPs and councillors accusing them of supporting main opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa.
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