-FAZ accused of bias as brother loses to sibling
RUTENDO CHIRUME
MASVING0- Givemore Mutodi who lost in Bikita South to his brother, Energy Mutiodi has raised a red flag over the way the recently held Zanu PF primary elections were conducted by the shadowy Forever Associates Zimbabwe Trust (FAZ).
Givemore poled 1 542, a distant third from his brother Energy who romped home with 3 233 votes, while on second position was Lawrence Muvuni with 2211 votes.
Speaking to The Midweek Watch Givemore’s campaign manager, Philani Sibanda said names were disappearing from the cell register yet FAZ looked the other way and Energy allegedly gave each voter a dollar, plate of sadza and a drink to sway the vote in his favour.
“There is so much evidence which point that the election was not fair. People were intimidated and threatened on the voting day, for instance in ward 7 people were forced to call out Energy Mutodi’s name before voting.
“They were transported by Energy’s kombis where they were given drinks and one dollar before getting into the polling station. In ward 27 FAZ were allegedly telling people that whether you won or not Energy has been endorsed by the President so he is automatically winning. In some wards a lot of people were turned away, a total of 800 votes were recorded from the four cells in one of the wards, which is quite a shock because it is not possible to have such a big number from one cell.
“FAZ came to disturb and corrupt the whole system, they changed how we normally do our voting, they even refused to tell us the number of ballots they brought for the election for us to tally.
“In ward 26, the polling station was manned by police agent called Onias Chineni who is Energy’s guard and was turning people away. In ward 4 where Givemore commands massive support, many people were turned away as their names were missing from the voters roll. People were told that there are names for local authorities only in ward 8 and were allowed to vote for constituency candidates only after 1pm.
“Elderly people who had visual challenges were told that there are only two candidates for example an elderly woman called (name supplied) can testify that votes were rigged because she saw that her vote was cast on Energy instead of Givemore whom she wanted to vote for.
“There are many people who can testify on the level of rigging that was witnessed on the day,” said Sibanda.
“Energy bribed FAZ to rig the election in his favour. He did nothing for the constituency except few shows which have even destroyed people’s marriages and as for Muvuni he did not do anything at all.
“However, my concern is on Energy and whether he is going to stand by the people because right now he dumped his constituency in Goromonzi to come and contest here where he knew his brother was a candidate.
“The electorate is also in shock and worried over the issue. We have since written a letter of complaint to the Politburo and Secretary for National Security,” added Sibanda .
Givemore has since provided 282 bags of cement and over 100 roofing sheets across Bikita South constituency towards construction of school blocks and a clinic, and has engaged in several campaigns in the community including road and bridge works and fencing materials for community gardens including donating soccer kits and balls for all the social soccer teams in Bikita South. When contacted for a comment Energy Mutodi promised to call back as he was attending a meeting, but he had not done so until the time of posting the story.
