Kazembe-Kazembe pays big for votes
HOME Affairs minister Kazembe Kazembe, staring in the face of a heavy defeat in his bid to bounce back as Zanu-PF Mashonaland Central provincial chairman, allegedly offered to pay a senior party member of staff US$25 000 to enforce a favourable outcome.
Kazembe squared up against tycoon Tafadzwa Musarara in the Tuesday election for the provincial chair and from results seen so far, he is noticeably second best.
As of last night, Musarara had garnered 1 114 votes compared to Kazembe’s 183 votes.
The alleged vote rigging plot is being engineered by an employee from the Zanu-PF HQ sent to the province to preside over the elections in favour of Kazembe.
The employee, identified only as Mharadzano, a human resources director at the Zanu-PF HQ in Harare is being accused of attempting to manipulate the vote count.
“Rigging is being engineered in favour of Kazembe by one Mharadzano, who was deployed by HQ and is currently based at the provincial command centre. Figures from Mt Darwin and Shamva, although showing Musarara winning, are not tallying. It seems they are meant to reduce Musarara’s overall in the province,” a well-placed source said.
“There was a major scuffle there last night when Mharadzano tried to deny national security officers from entering the ICT room where results are being collated. This is unheard of. By about midnight, Mharadzano was overhead promising Kazembe good results over the phone and is reported to have been given US$25 000 to ensure his victory.”
Source – NewZimbabwe