Zanu-PF wrestles seat from MDC Alliance
ZANU PF has won three of the five national assembly seats in Chipinge with its candidates praising the peaceful atmosphere that prevailed before, during and after Monday’s harmonised elections.
The district has five constituencies — Chipinge East, Chipinge South, Chipinge Central, Chipinge West and Musikavanhu.
Zanu-PF went into the elections with four sitting legislators in Chipinge East, Chipinge South, Chipinge Central and Chipinge West constituencies.
Zanu-PF retained Chipinge South, Chipinge Central and grabbed Musikavanhu from MDC-T.
The ruling party lost Chipinge West and Chipinge East to MDC Alliance.
Cde Enock Porusingazi, who retained his Chipinge South seat said though they are celebrating, they were mindful of the need to serve everyone including those who did not vote for the ruling party.
He said the party would have won by a wider margin if they went into the election united.
“I think we performed well as a party in the district but somehow we could not get the result that we would have wanted because of internal differences. However, we are happy that the party has won and it is now time to quickly sober up and start serving the people.
“This is no longer about who voted for me and who did not, but is time to serve the constituency and execute the mandate that people gave us as winning candidates. We have to serve everyone irrespective of political persuasion,” he said.
Chipinge Central coordinator Cde Godfrey Sigauke thanked the electorate for voting to retain Cde Machingura, but bemoaned divisions that rocked the party towards the elections.
“The peaceful atmosphere that prevailed was just commendable. We are happy that we won this election and the will of the people of Chipinge Central prevailed. We could have won it by a wider margin only if the structures of the party in Chipinge went into the election in unison.
“We actually expected to get more wards especially here in Chipinge Town, but that was not the case because of the infighting that we saw during and after the primary elections. However, we are happy to win as a party and this is the time to work for the people and address the challenges facing the constituency,” he said.
Chipinge East Zanu-PF losing candidate Cde Adam Chemwamurombe alleged conspiracy against him.
“I will lodge a formal complaint over it because it is clear that there are some people that hold positions of influence who just wanted to see the downfall of Zanu-PF and used my constituency and probably many other selected ones to execute their plan,” he said.