6-APRIL-2024- In the spirit of ensuring transparency, fairness and accountability crucial to democracy and safeguard election integrity the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) observed Local Authority by-elections on 6 April 2024 in Kusile Rural District Council (RDC) Ward 13 and Redcliff Municipality Ward 3. The by-elections in which Zimbabwe African National Unity Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) was declared winner in both the Redcliff Municipality and Kusile RDC Ward 13 seats were held to fill in vacancies that arose in the Wards following the death of incumbent Councillors.
Legal Framework
The by-elections were held in accordance with Section 121 A of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) following the death of the incumbent Councillors for Kusile RDC Ward 13 Councillor Tarcissius Qonda of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) and Redcliff Municipality Ward 3 Mayor Alderman Clayton Masiyatsva of CCC.
Nomination Court
The Nomination Court sat for purposes of receiving nominations of candidates for election as councillors for the vacant Wards on Friday 23 February 2024 in line with Section 125 (4) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13]. The Nomination Court for the Kusile Rural District Council Ward 13 sat at the offices of the Chief Executive Officer, Kusile Rural District Council, Lupane. Redcliff Municipality Ward 3 sat at the offices of the Town Clerk, Redcliff. Overall, the process was very peaceful and calm. There were no reported incidents of violence or intimidation by candidates or their supporters during nomination day and processes. The nominated candidates for Kusile RDC’s Ward 13 are Henry Moyo of United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA), Celani Ndimande (Independent) and Donald Chewareerwa of ZANU-PF were successfully nominated for election as councillors to contest as candidates for Ward 13 of Kusile RDC whilst Rangarirai Sibanda (Independent), Christina Sigauke (ZANU-PF) and Tinei Siziba (Independent) were duly nominated to contest as municipal candidates for Ward 3 Redcliff Municipality.
Observation methodology
ZESN trained and deployed nine (9) static observers across the two (2) Local Authority Wards. Of the nine (9) static observers, four (4) observers were stationed in Redcliff Municipality Ward 3 whilst five (5) were deployed in Kusile RDC Ward 13. All ZESN observers were duly accredited by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) prior to deployment. This preliminary statement is based on reports received from the ZESN observers and recommendations are made in accordance with the electoral laws of Zimbabwe as well as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Principles and Guidelines Governing the Conduct of Democratic Elections.
