…Matuke deploys team to investigate win
By Brighton Chiseva
MASVINGO – Zanu PF’s Lovemore Matuke, Secretary for Security who is also minister of state security said the party was shocked by the landslide victory recently win in Gutu East by election.
Matuke was speaking at a Provincial Coordinating Meeting Held at Masvingo Poly on June 20 where he said history was made after the win since Zanu PF had not won a by-election with more votes than the general election before.
“His Excellency (President Emmerson Mnangagwa said let’s send a team to study because in the history of this party since 1980, there is no by election that had more voters than the general election. This is the first of its kind, we surpassed the general election result by more than 2 000 votes.
He said they wanted to use Gutu East as a case study for future elections so they had to ask why they surpassed general election vote.
“We said let us use Gutu East as a case study, let’s ask ourselves why we won with such a margin. We need scientists to investigate what really happened because you don’t win and relax the same way you don’t lose and relax.
“We have Gutu East and another council election (Binga), so I have since given an order that I want a report on why we won like that. We need to dissect the entire process to understand what resonated with the people. We will look at the candidate selection and what pushed people to go and vote. Is it the projects being done by the President or it’s because of the team work we have in the province?” said Matuke.
He went on to say the province was united and that could have influenced the outcome and said that unity was supposed to be emulated as the party embarks on a cell verification process.
Commenting on the win, Zanu PF Masvingo Provincial Chairperson Robson Mavhenyengwa said the win showed that people loved the party since the opposition votes slided with around 2 000 votes comparing with the general election outcome.
“We won by more than 9 000 compared to around 7000 last election and the opposition had around 4 000 now it slipped to around 2 000. This shows Zanu PF and our President are loved in the province,” said Mavhenyengwa.
The by-election was necessitated by the recall of Benjamin Ganyiwa, the previous MP and the party’s candidate Masvingise Zvarevashe secured 9,321 votes. This victory marked a significant win for Zanu PF, with the party sweeping all four by-elections held recently.
Gift Gonese a former Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate who contested as independent got 2,269 votes, while Zivanai Nzvenga of NCA got a paltry 173 votes.
Zanu PF also won in Insiza North Constituency, Chipinge RDC Ward 5 and Binga RDC Ward 4.
