Logistical challenges mar Zanu PF DCC elections
POOR logistics marred the Zanu PF District Coordinating Committee (DCC) elections Saturday and voting, which was supposed to end at 8 pm, was still to be completed late into the night.
The governing party also blamed rains for the slow start of its internal poll.
A total of 1 248 polling stations in the eight provinces have been set up. This excludes Harare and Bulawayo as the two cities have already concluded their elections.
Zanu PF national political commissar Victor Matemadanda said logistical challenges had marred the smooth running of the polls.
“Voting is still going on because a lot of districts have not voted yet due to the heavy rains that have been pounding most parts of the country. So there is not much we can say at the moment, but for those that have not finished, we have given them until noon tomorrow (Sunday) so that they can finish,” he said.
ZANU PF acting national spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said voting was going to spill into this Sunday.
“We had logistical challenges which will likely see our elections spilling into the next day. We had areas like Gokwe where some polling agents failed to reach their polling stations due to flooded rivers,” he said.
Chinamasa said the election results will be announced Monday at the national elections command centre at the Zanu PF national headquarters in Harare.
In Mashonaland West province, the elections commenced late in most parts of the province due to delays in the delivery of ballots. Some polling stations had not received ballot papers by 5 pm.
Zanu PF secretary for external affairs, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, who is leading the party’s election supervisory team in the province, confirmed the delays.
“We have since deployed our polling teams to all the 352 polling stations. We are still receiving feedback from them. I cannot comment at the moment on whether the election will spill over to tomorrow (Sunday). We shall confirm tomorrow,” he said.
In Kariba district, elections also got off to a slow start amid logistical challenges in transporting the ballot papers to Nyaminyami rural as some rivers were impassable owing to the rains. There are 14 polling stations in Nyaminyami and three in Kariba urban.
Elections could also not go ahead at 86 polling stations in the Hurungwe District resulting in voting being deferred to start this Sunday.
In Matabeleland South province, head of Zanu PF’s supervisory team in Sthembiso Nyoni, said voting had not been completed in most districts by 8 pm.
Other logistical challenges were recorded in Shamva and Mbire districts in Mashonaland Central province.
–New Zimbabwe
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