The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba is facing a potential revolt from his lieutenants amid indications that some of the commissioners have rejected the preliminary delimitation report.
Recently some Zanu PF affiliated organisations including Men BelievED and Councilors4ED among others publicly castigated ZEC over the way they handled the whole delimitation exercise.
Close sources who spoke to this publication that the situation at electoral mother body is very bad with some commissioners reportedly pushing for Chigumba to resign.
“The majority of commissioners showed Chigumba a middle finger, they wrote reports distancing themselves from the delimitation report. They submitted their reports to relevant authorities, their argument was there was no consultations the secretariat did their things on their own. It is believed that Chigumba was paid to do a sham delimitation exercise that will impact Zanu PF negatively. Chigumba is working with some senior Zanu PF members who want to dislodge Mnangagwa.
“All commissioners are now against Chigumba, they are not happy with the way she handled the whole process there were no consultations, it was just a desktop research,” the source said.
ZEC spokesperson Jasper Mangwana said they were working on the delimitation exercise hinting that the country could use old boundaries in the 2023 plebiscite if the process is not completed on time.
“The commission is working flat out on the delimitation exercise, and when we are ready, we will appraise the public on the latest developments.
“However, if this exercise is not completed or the boundaries are proclaimed less than six months before the election, we will have to revert to using the 2007-2008 electoral boundaries.
“It is also important to note that this is the first time we have done the delimitation exercise in terms of the 2013 Constitution.
“Again, this is also the first time we are responsible for the demarcation of ward boundaries, which is more administrative and has a huge effect on resource allocation, as well as community development,” Mangwana said.
