By Fikile Mapala
HARARE, April 24, 2008 (thezimbabwetimes.com) – A top-ranking Zanu-PF official, who was a losing
candidate in the recent senatorial elections, has called on fellow ruling party candidates to come to terms
with reality and accept their defeat at the hands of the MDC.
The defeated senatorial candidate for Gutu Constituency in Masvingo Province in the March 29
Defence Forces commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, who was the Zanu-PF,
Robert Mugabe for the party’s poor showing in the elections.
Zimbabwe also openly blamed President
Zvinavashe spoke at the conclusion of a recount of ballots in his constituency which revealed that his
defeat was irreversible.
The former army commander, who is now a business man, also urged fellow Zanu-PF candidates in the
province to live with the reality that they had, indeed, lost the elections to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC) led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
Zvinavashe who, as army commander once vowed he would never salute Tsvangirai, on Wednesday
addressed Zanu-PF House of Assembly and local council election candidates during the recounting of ballots for three Gutu
constituencies at the Gutu rural district council offices in Masvingo.
"There is no need to fight over these results,” he said. “We must accept the reality that we have lost these
elections to the MDC. What is important is to live together in peace, both losers and winners. We do not
want violence in this area. We are relatives.”
He surprise both losing candidates and election officials when he publicly suggested that Zanu-PF
candidates in Masvingo had lost because of the party’s presidential candidate, President Robert Mugabe.
He said: “Most of us lost these elections not because we are not popular in our constituencies. We lost these
harmonised elections because of one man.
“People rejected us because we were campaigning for Mugabe. People in Masvingo have rejected him and
we became collateral damage. There is no reason to fight with the MDC over this election. The real problem
is that man (Mugabe), not us.”
Zvinavashe made his candid remarks in the presence of MDC candidates and polling agents who were
present at the counting centre.
Recounts are being conducted in 23 constituencies where Zanu-PF claimed President Mugabe’s and
Zanu-PF’s ballots were understated by corrupt election officials who were allegedly bribed by the MDC. Of
the 23, two recounts were initiated by the MDC.
Zanu-PF hopes to overturn its defeat in parliamentary elections after it lost its parliamentary majority for the
first time to the MDC on March 29. Results of the presidential election are still being withheld almost a month
after polling closed, amid growing international concerns that violence is flaring up in the country.
Zvinavashe is said to have advised his chief election agent Bertha Chikwama - the losing Zanu-PF
parliamentary candidate for Gutu East – to abandon the recounting process saying it was “a waste of time”
since nothing would change.
On Saturday the police intervened when Zanu-PF candidates Lovemore Matuke, Shuvai Mahofa and their
polling agents threatened to attack opposition candidates following a misunderstanding over the recounting
process.
Zvinavashe, who lost the election to Empire Makamure of the MDC, urged Zanu-PF candidates to desist from
violence but to ensure peaceful co-existence with members of the opposition in the province.
