HARARE – Zanu PF on Friday announced the postponement of its primary elections 24 hours before they were due to be held, citing delays in the vetting of candidates.
The party was already facing criticism for a tight timeline announced for its internal elections ahead of general elections expected in August, after candidates were given just seven days to submit their CVs and campaign for positions.
Zanu PF’s political commissar Mike Bimha conceded they had given themselves too little time to complete candidate vetting processes in time for Saturday’s voting.
“We had anticipated that by Saturday we will have elections but because of the overwhelming response it was not possible to get to that target,” Bimha told a news conference in Harare.
“We need to make sure that we go through these processes: the vetting process, the meeting of the elections directorate which has to do a thorough job and also to prepare all these submissions to be ready to be considered by the politburo.
“In some areas we had up to 10 candidates for one position, and therefore you need to do thorough work to ensure that we get the right candidates at the end of the day.”
Bimha said the Zanu PF politburo would meet on Monday and come up with a new date for the primaries.
The vetting for Zanu PF candidates for criminal records is reportedly conducted at Morris Depot, the police training centre, before the Zanu PF elections directorate and politburo evaluate the candidates’ political credentials.
