NCA ready for Bikita West by-election

via NCA ready for Bikita West by-election | SW Radio Africa by Tichaona Sibanda on Tuesday, October 8, 2013

The National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) is confident of clinching the Bikita West by-election, formerly held by the expelled ZANU PF MP Munyaradzi Kereke, the party said on Tuesday.

‘Campaigning is rolling slowly and it is going to culminate in an overwhelming NCA victory. I can guarantee you that our candidate will win, the election is going to be just a formality,’ NCA spokesman Blessing Vava said.

The NCA party, led by Professor Lovemore Madhuku, was officially launched last month in Harare. A task force was mandated to form structures throughout the country and will report back on its progress on 27th October.

Asked if they had structures already operational in Bikita West, Vava said it was not like the NCA was ‘going to Bikita today.’

‘We have been in Bikita since the formation of the NCA. We have structures on the ground and my answer to your question is that we are more than ready to participate in the task force identifies a candidate,’ Vava added.

He explained that the selection process for a candidate for the by-election will be the most democratic the country has ever seen.‘No one is going to be imposed on the people of Bikita West. We will have a process were a candidate chosen by the people will stand for the people and not any other way,’

The parliamentary by-election is looming in Bikita West constituency after ZANU PF’s politburo endorsed the expulsion of Munyaradzi Kereke.

Kereke, a former advisor to the Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono, won the Bikita West seat on a ZANU PF ticket but was expelled from the party for indiscipline and failure to follow guidelines.

The controversial Harare based businessman refused to step aside to pave the way for musician Elias Musakwa, who was the party’s official candidate in the July 31st elections.

Kereke polled 7,270 votes to Musakwa’s 6,052 in the poll. Heya Shoko of the MDC-T only garnered 3,863.

Following last week’s politburo meeting it was revealed that ZANU PF had already advised the Speaker of Parliament Jacob Mudenda, to declare the constituency vacant as Kereke was no longer a member of their party.

Section 129 of the new Constitution says that a seat of an MP becomes vacant if the person has ceased to belong to the political party of which they were a member when elected to Parliament.