HARARE – Zanu PF abandoned its primary elections in Kwekwe on Sunday after violence broke out at the party district offices, leading to several arrests.

Stone-throwing and machete-wielding youths stormed polling stations, with rival factions clashing on a day of chaos.

Kandros Mugabe and Energy Ncube were supposed to battle it out for the ticket to represent the party in by-elections to replace the late Kwekwe Central legislator Masango Matambanadzo.

Matambanadzo won the seat in the July 2018 general elections as a National Patriotic Front candidate, beating Mugabe. He died in July.

Zanu PF Midlands provincial chairman Daniel Mackenzie-Ncube confirmed the skirmishes and blamed them on gold panners.

He said the gold panners were allegedly brought by one of the candidates who now faces disqualification.

“They (primary elections) did not go well,” Mackenzie-Ncube said.

“Some gold panners came in and overran the polling stations demanding to vote and in the end, we had to call the primary elections off. Most of the panners do not come from the constituency and are unregistered in that constituency while others came from outside the constituency but just wanted to vote.”

Mackenzie-Ncube said a report would be prepared and there was the possibility of disqualification of the candidate who would be found guilty of sponsoring the panners.

“Those responsible will face the full wrath of the law. Quite a number have been arrested now and those responsible will be brought to book and the candidates who are encouraging this will also be brought to book or even disqualified,” he added.

Teargas was used as police and soldiers dispersed the machete-wielding and sloganeering supporters. A Zanu PF branded double-cab vehicle was vandalised.

Police in the city also mounted roadblocks and blocked residents from getting into town in the afternoon.

The Kwekwe Central primary elections were being held despite health minister Vice President Constantino Chiwenga on Friday, through Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020, suspending the holding of by-elections citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

Several by-elections were supposed to be held on December 5, according to a notice by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, to replace mainly MDC Alliance MPs and councillors recalled by the MDC-T party.

The recalls were made after the March 30 Supreme Court ruling that declared her a temporary leader of the opposition party. Thirty-two MDC Alliance MPs have been recalled as well as 165 councillors.

Kwekwe is host to thousands of gold panners from different cities and towns who are all in the mining town in search of the yellow metal. Most of them are, however, not registered in the constituency, but have strong links with key political figures. These allegedly include State Security minister Owen Ncube, among others.

On Sunday, the party district offices were swamped by protesters singing revolutionary songs, with some claiming they were shocked that their names were missing from the voters roll.

They alleged an underhand plot by loyalists of the late former President Robert Mugabe – known as the G40 – to have one of their own as a candidate in the polls.

They claimed that Mugabe, who lost to Matambanadzo in the 2018 elections, was a “G40 plant”, an allegation denied by his backers, who accused Ncube’s supporters of making desperate excuses.

It also emerged that a group of party supporters, armed with machetes, stormed a polling station in Fitchlea threatening violence on a rival camp, forcing the closure of the polling centre.

There were also reports of violence in Chicago suburb, where party supporters also clashed, forcing the voting process to be abandoned.

Both camps made accusations and counter-accusations in separate interviews, with the Mugabe camp also claiming a plot to manipulate the process in favour of Ncube. – NewsDay