MDC-T MPs in ‘do or die’ elections Thursday

By Tichaona Sibanda

All sitting MDC-T MPs who failed to get past the confirmation stage of the internal party selection process in Harare and Chitungwiza will have an opportunity to redeem themselves during Thursday’s primary elections. 

MDC-T voters have posted a ruthless verdict on 30 of their 97 Members of Parliament since the party primaries started a fortnight ago. Not even cabinet ministers have been spared the wrath of voters countrywide, who went to the ballot to choose their party representatives.

As they prepare to face the same voters once again this Thursday, the prayer on the lips of most of these legislators is that the aftershocks of the earthquakes that erupted in their political landscapes will not return in dramatic fashion.

Science and Technology Minister Heneri Dzinotyiwei (Budiriro) and former cabinet member Fidelis Mhashu (Chitungwiza North) fared dismally in the confirmations held two weeks ago. Each sitting MP needs to be confirmed by a two-thirds majority of an electoral college in the constituency they represent.

The only sitting MP who was confirmed in Chitungwiza is Alexio Musundire in Zengeza East. Those going to the next stage of primaries are Mhashu, Greenbet Dongo (Goromonzi South), Colin Gwiyo (Zengeza West), Misheck Shoko (Chitungwiza South) and Marvelous Khumalo (St Mary’s).

In Harare, those who failed to get past the first hurdle include Dzinotyiwei, Elias Jembere (Epworth), Pearson Mungofa (Highfield East), Willias Madzimure (Kambuzuma), Margaret Matienga (Sunningdale), Gift Dzirutwe (Glen Norah) and Simon Hove (Highfield West).

The primary elections for all these MPs will be the acid test, after they slipped down the popularity rating among the voters in their respective constituencies. A win will be viewed as a big morale booster but chances of a return to parliament for most are remote, according to analysts.

US based political analyst Dr Maxwell Shumba told SW Radio Africa on Monday that he was sure the majority of the MPs do not stand a chance of re-election.

‘These MPs are falling foul of how they performed in the last five years. It shows the electorate is no longer docile and the results so far are teaching people that we can no longer toy with the electorate,’ Shumba said.

Dr Takavafira Zhou, the President of the Progressive Teachers Union and the newly elected MDC-T parliamentary candidate for Mberengwa North, hailed the people for voting-out non-performing politicians.

‘In Mberengwa where I come from, the area is so poor that we blame ZANU PF for not developing the region and yet it has vast natural resources that are being plundered by the political elite,’Zhou said.

He added: ‘Power ultimately resides in the people, whose perception of a performing politician is the provision of developmental projects in their constituencies.’ SW Radio Africa