WASHINGTON DC - The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says six council by-elections set for Binga on Saturday have been suspended following a High Court order filed by a local person, who claimed that some of the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidates owed council unspecified amounts of money in unpaid rates.
In a statement, ZEC said, “The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would like to inform members of the public that the High Court has ordered the suspension of by-elections in wards 6, 8, 10, 15 and 23 of Binga Rural District Council scheduled for Saturday 03 December 2022.
“This follows urgent chamber applications by Collin Mudenda who challenged the nomination of John Simunene Sikabotu, Kingston Mpofu, Mathias Mudenda, Joseph Mwembe and Wilson SInampolomba on the grounds that they were disqualified from contesting as candidates in terms of Section 119(2)(h) of the Electoral Act. The Section states that a person shall be disqualified from being nominated as a candidate on the nomination day or the day of an election when he or she is in default with the payment of any levy, rate, charge or tax due and payable to the council concerned for more than 120 days.”
ZEC said the High Court ordered that the Commission “should not proceed with the by-elections for the five wards pending the hearing of the cases which were postponed to 4 January 2023.
“However, despite this High Court order, by-elections for ward 20 of Binga Rural District Council, ward 4, 4, and 18 of Gweru Municipality and ward 28 of Mberengwa Rural District Council will go ahead tomorrow 3 December 2022 as scheduled.”
Opposition CCC regional chairperson, Prince Dubeko Sibanda, said the elections were stopped “as Zanu PF fears that it will lost these by-elections.”
But Zanu PF’s Kudakwashe Munsanka said, “These people have to follow the High Court order. This is part of our electoral process. We are not afraid of CCC. We can beat them anytime.”
The seats fell vacant when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change led by Douglas Mwonzora recalled some councilors following claims that they had joined CCC. Binga is a CCC stronghold.