Fredrick Moyo
Battle lines have been drawn in Masvingo West ward 21 as the electorate are set to take to the polls in a by-election on June 25, 2022 following the death of the councillor.
Former ZANU PF councillor Tinago Mupinga died on March 24 and the seat became vacant thereafter.
Three candidates were successfully nominated and ZANU PF will be represented by Chenjerai Mumbire, Onias Mawanire stands in for Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Sister Nhando will be an independent candidate.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Masvingo Deputy Provincial Election Officer (PEO) Maxwell Ncube confirmed the by-election and said the three had successfully submitted their nomination papers.
“There is going to be a by-election for Masvingo RDC ward 21. This follows the death of the sitting councillor on March 24, 2022 so the by-election is going to take place on June 25, 2022 in the same ward.
“Three candidates successfully submitted their CVs on the nomination day May 9 and both were nominated,” said Ncube.
In the March 26 by-elections, ruling party ZANU PF maintained its dominance in rural areas while the main opposition CCC won all urban seats. At stake were two House of Assembly seats in which ZANU PF won all while there were also nine local authority seats in the province and ZANU PF won five rural while CCC won four urban seats.