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Rujeko – Zanu PF romped to victory in Rujeko ward 7 by election after its candidate Simbarashe Shonhiwa pummeled hapless 3 independent candidates and one from MDC T.
The elections were held on Saturday 13 September and results were announced late in the evening shortly after 7 pm closing time.
Shonhiwa popularly known as Gweja garnered 703 votes followed by Independent candidate Struggle Nyahunda with 192 votes, Prosper Tiringindi got 119 votes, Tsungai Mandati independent managed 58 votes while Douglas Mwonzora led MDC candidate, Prosper Mataruse got a paltry 11 votes from the 7 polling stations in the ward.
Efforts to get a comment from Gweja to get his reaction of the victory were fruitless as his mobile went unanswered.
But the bubbly Zanu PF Masvingo provincial spokesperson, Pepukai Chiwewe said his party is excited by the landslide victory and celebrations are underway.
“Ward 7’s results have confirmed that the people trust ZANU PF’s visionary leadership and development agenda. His Excellency Dr. ED Mnangagwa’s focus on inclusive development is paying off even to people in urban areas, and the opposition’s selfish interests are being rejected. We’re proud to declare Masvingo Province a ZANU PF stronghold, where the party’s commitment to the people’s welfare is unwavering,” said Chiwewe.
Independent candidate, Struggle hailed supporters for standing with him under as the elections were marred with apathy and flawed.
“I want to appreciate the support that I received in ward 7 against all odds. We raised complaints against how the whole Election was going on from shambolic voters roll where there was systematic disenfranchisement and changing of people’s polling stations. I am a registered in Poling Station B at Rujeko Primary School but my name appeared in Rujeko A polling station. Some voters of Rujeko Primary had their names appearing at Admin Polling station,” said Nyahunda.
He said the voters roll mix up frustrated voters and some would simply go back home without visiting other polling stations after their names were missing at their usual stations they voted at in 2023.
He added that to be or not to be, we will continue with the fight. We will continue canvassing for support for the democratic alternative. We are not worried about the short-lived pseudo victories.
Another Independent candidate, Prosper Tiringindi said the electoral process had many challenges conceding defeat in a veiled manner.
“I just want to thank everyone who voted for me, I also faced some challenges as an Independent from sitting councilors who were openly campaigning for their preferred candidates,” Tiringindi said.
He also lamented low turnout by the youth who were visibly very few at many polling stations.
The by-election was necessitated by the passing away of former councilor Tafara Masimba recently.
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