HARARE – Zanu PF has ordered its 73 parliamentary candidates who lost in the recent elections polls to return vehicles which had been allocated to them for campaign purposes.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party distributed vehicles to its 210 parliamentary candidates to prepare for the poll.
The ruling party garnered 176 parliamentary seats while the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) won the remainder.
In the directive, Zanu PF’s secretary for administration Obert Mpofu wrote to provincial chairpersons instructing them to ensure that the Nissan Navara and Fiat double cab vehicles they used during campaigns were surrendered at the party’s headquarters by this coming Wednesday.
He said the decision to recall campaign vehicles from losing candidates was reached at during last Thursday’s Politburo meeting.
“This serves as a directive to all the Zanu PF parliamentary candidates that participated and did not succeed in the just-ended harmonised elections to surrender the party vehicles that were allocated to them to the Zanu PF party headquarters by Wednesday 4 October, 2023 without fail.
“This is pursuant to the circular that was issued before, followed by a decision made by the party leadership at the Politburo Meeting held on 28 September 2023.
“All Provincial Chairpersons are directed to ensure that this directive is implemented without fail. Your co-operation on this matter will be greatly appreciated,” wrote Mpofu.
There have been calls for Zanu PF to repossess campaign vehicles and distribute them towards capacitating government departments such as the ministry of health.
However, after the 2013 elections, the then Zanu PF secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa gave a similar directive but the losing candidates refused to return the Ford Everest campaign vehicles.
That forced the Zanu PF politburo to reverse the directive for losing candidates to surrender the vehicles.
