Mash West: Chamisa’s Waterloo
ZANU-PF’s concrete structures carried the day in the July 30 harmonised elections with voters in Mashonaland West saying the ruling party had brought them closer than their counterparts in urban centres.
The revolutionary party won all but four parliamentary seats - Chinhoyi, Kariba, Kadoma and Chegutu - as it romped to a crushing victory.
In the province, the President received 312 958 votes to the opposition leader’s 217 732 votes.
Mr Chamisa won the presidential race in Chegutu West, Mhondoro-Mubaira, Norton, Magunje, Kariba, Chinhoyi, Kadoma Central, Zvimba East and Zvimba West.
President Mnangagwa, however, scored big in the other constituencies such as Chegutu East 16 068 against Mr Chamisa’s 7 268 while in Hurungwe Central the former had 14 097 to 8 718.
In Hurungwe East, President Mnangagwa polled 21 313 votes while Mr Chamisa received 5 090 while in Hurungwe North the President received 12 505 against Chamisa’s 6 233, respectively.
President Mnangagwa won by 10 266 votes to Mr Chamisa’s 8 330 in Hurungwe West and polled 18 868 votes against 4 808 in Makonde, respectively.
The figures released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission also indicate that President Munangagwa polled 24 924 to Mr Chamisa’s 4 463 in Mhangura constituency.
In Chakari, President Mnangagwa polled 25 315 votes to Mr Chamisa’s 4 947 while in Mhondoro-Ngezi, he garnered 11 475 votes to the latter’s 10 407.
In the other results, President Mnangagwa polled 21 954 votes to Mr Chamisa’s 10 648 while in Sanyati the two main contenders polled 11 347 to 5 519 votes respectively.
In Zvimba North, President Mnangagwa polled 20 263 votes to the MDC Alliance leader’s 3 747 votes while in Zvimba South the two scored 13 298 and 7 706 votes respectively.
Meanwhile, in Chegutu West, President Mnangagwa’s 10 517 votes fell short of Mr Chamisa’s 14 019 votes while in Mhondoro-Mubaira he received 8 794 votes to the latter’s 9 465 votes.
In Norton, won by independent candidate in the National Assembly election Mr Temba Mliswa, the President received 9 070 votes to the MDC Alliance candidate’s 19 216 votes.
President Mnangagwa also received 8 514 votes to Mr Chamisa’s 9 010 votes in Magunje while in Kariba he received 11 631 votes to the latter’s 14 555 votes.
In Chinhoyi and Kadoma, President Mnangagwa received 9 088 and 9 981 votes, respectively, to Mr Chamisa’s 19 740 and 19 190 votes.
In Zvimba East, which has one ward in Harare, President Mnangagwa polled 15 465 to lose to Mr Chamisa’s 16 179 votes while in Zvimba West, the Zanu-PF leader polled 8 205 votes against 8 474 for the main opposition leader.
In various interviews held in Hurungwe, villagers said most of them voted for Zanu-PF because of their close association as members of the community.
Mr Noah Maguranyanga of Zinyama village under Chief Dendera said in rural areas, Zanu-PF’s structures such as cells, branches and districts, were so intact and visible that when voting came the members in the structures simply translated to votes.
“Zanu-PF structures are concrete running from the lowest rungs of the party structures to the highest levels. This can simply translate to the number of genuine supporters who back their party in elections,” he said.
Mr Aggrey Matashu of Peveril Farm in Hurungwe said Zanu-PF’s resounding win in rural areas was partly due to the close ties among its supporters in the villages.
“In rural areas people are united. Look at the way villagers in rural areas relate to each other in the event of funerals. A funeral is given the reverence it deserves with others walking very long distances to attend the funeral of a colleague.
“In towns you can have a funeral at next door and not bother attending because they are not united. Above all, rural people have great respect for their party.”
Coincidentally, the Presidential results for Mashonaland West were the last to be announced and proved to be the final nail in the coffin for MDC Alliance.
Mashonaland West province was the decider and being a traditional Zanu-PF stronghold an emphatic win for President Mnangagwa was guaranteed.