MDC-T IN QUANDARY As Nomination Court sits

ASPIRING candidates from several political parties have started submitting their nomination papers to the Zimbabwe Election Commission, amid reports of serious bickering within MDC Alliance, as MDC-T supporters refuse to recognise nominees fielded on behalf of the alliance.

Candidates are lodging their papers with Zec in a pre-nomination exercise to avoid a last minute rush tomorrow when nomination courts sit in various provincial capitals to approve contestants for the July 30 harmonised election.

The nomination court, which qualifies or disqualifies candidates to contest in an election, sits at a time MDC-T factions are fighting court battles over party ownership, name, symbols and logos.

Campaign material being used by Mr Nelson Chamisa and Dr Thokozoni Khupe’s factions bear the same symbols and logos, leaving party supporters confused.

With only a day to go before the nomination court sits, information gathered by our Harare Bureau showed that MDC-T members and their prospective candidates are reluctant to create space for aspirants from alliance partners.

Mr Chamisa leads the alliance, which is a coalition of seven fringe political parties.

The parties are People’s Democratic Party led by Mr Tendai Biti; MDC (Professor Welshman Ncube); Transform Zimbabwe (Mr Jacob Ngarivhume); Zanu-Ndonga (Mr Denford Musiyarira); Multi-Racial Christian Democratic Party (Mr Mathias Guchutu) and Zimbabwe People First (Mr Agrippa Mutambara).

Zanu-PF yesterday said it had finalised its list of candidates at all levels.

“We have started our nomination process and people are filing their papers with Zec across the country,” the revolutionary party’s secretary for legal affairs Cde Paul Mangwana said.

“So far I have not heard of any challenges and by the end of the day we will be making an evaluation to see how many have successfully filed their nomination papers. We have done this days before the nomination court sits to deal with any operational challenges on time.”

Zanu-PF will field President Mnangagwa as its presidential candidate.

MDC Alliance spokesperson Prof Ncube said they were still to finalise their list of candidates.

“We are working on the nomination forms as we

Mbundane residents, it seems, will have to wait a bit longer before they are connected to the Bulawayo City Council water supplies. The picture taken yesterday shows some of the residents fetching water from one of the boreholes in the area