Zanu PF wants Kereke seat declared vacant

via Zanu PF wants Kereke seat declared vacant NewZimbabwe 02/10/2013

THE Zanu PF politburo on Wednesday confirmed Bikita West MP Munyaradzi Kereke’s expulsion and asked the Speaker of Parliament to declare the seat vacant to trigger a by-election.

Kereke had his nomination papers for the July 31 elections signed by the Zanu PF district leaders, but he was disqualified by the party on the basis that he had not been a member for five years.

Zanu PF nominated Elias Musakwa as its preferred candidate, but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) would later advice the party that once Kereke’s nomination papers were accepted, it had no authority to stop him standing on the party’s ticket.

Both Kereke and Musakwa subsequently stood on the Zanu PF ticket, with the former adviser to Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono emerging victorious with 7,270 votes to Musakwa’s 6,052. The MDC-T’s Heya Shoka polled 3,863 votes with the MDC’s Benjamin Katema bringing the rear with 415 votes.

Zanu PF spokesman Rugare Gumbo told reporters after the politburo meeting: “On Kereke, the party’s decision still stands, he is expelled. So we have advised the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, to declare the Bikita West post vacant and a by-election must be held.”

District officials Lovemore Matuke and Edmond Mhere, who signed Kereke’s papers, “are going to face disciplinary action for what they did”, Gumbo added