THERE is intense jockeying in Zanu PF for the vacant Glen View South constituency seat.
The seat fell vacant following the death of opposition lawmaker Grandmore Hakata early this year.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa set April 12 as the date for the Glen View South parliamentary by-election.
Hakata won the parliamentary seat in the August 2023 elections while detained at Chikurubi Maximum Prison for holding an unsanctioned rally.
Several aspiring candidates in Zanu PF have launched secret campaigns ahead of the party's primary elections to select a candidate.
Harare Zanu PF provincial secretary for security Voyage Dambuza, Glen View shadow lawmaker for the party Ophard Muchuwe and Tsitsi Taomera have so far emerged as the front-runners.
“Several meetings have been held in Harare in preparation for the by-elections to select the best candidate,” said a party member.
Zanu PF Harare provincial chairperson Godwills Masimirembwa yesterday said they were yet to set a date for primary elections.
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“I’m in a meeting, but we are yet to come up with a date for the primary elections,” he said.
Zanu PF has a history of disputed primary elections.
Ahead of the 2023 elections, Zanu PF ordered re-runs in some constituencies following allegations of rigging, vote buying and intimidation of rival members. Reports indicated that the names of some party members including aspiring candidates were missing from the voters roll while most primary elections were conducted in darkness.
As of yesterday, it was not clear if opposition parties would contest in the upcoming by-election.
Zanu PF won in most by-elections following the recall of opposition lawmakers by self-proclaimed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu.
Tshabangu hijacked the CCC from its founding leader Nelson Chamisa.
