The Mthwakazi Republic Party (MRP) says they are not interested in participating in by-elections as they are still canvassing support in communities ahead of the 2023 elections.
The opposition party has not featured in the by-elections that were held earlier this year.
They are also not participating in the upcoming Bulilima mini-polls slated for 3 September.
Mqondisi Moyo, the party president, said the outcomes of the by-elections are already predetermined.
“We still have a lot of work to do because we can’t just be participating in elections without going around canvassing for support from our people because we know that these by-elections at times are pre-determined by Zanu-PF. One can tell that the outcome of the by-elections is Zanu-PF,” said Moyo.
“For us, it wasn’t an issue of just participating in a by-election but it was an issue of making sure that when we take part in elections, we will have massive support from our people because we feel by-elections on the other hand will be a way of making Zanu-PF to measure its strength on whether they are losing ground or they are gaining.”
He said the party is currently holding outreach meetings in rural areas.
“We are busy doing a lot of campaigns, especially in rural areas educating our people about the need for them to stand up and challenge the status quo but our outreach programs educating our people to understand our cores, we are not only concertizing them to stand up and vote for us in the upcoming elections, but we are also educating them to understand on the ideology that we are pursuing because it doesn’t start from elections,” said Moyo.
Commenting on the recently gazetted nomination fees, Moyo said it was a ploy to reduce the number of candidates in the upcoming elections.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) recently gazetted candidate nomination fees Statutory Instrument (SI) 144 of 2022, saying aspiring presidential, members of parliament, councillors and those gunning for senate will pay US$20 000, US$1000 and US$200 respectively.
“That is total madness from both ZEC which is an arm of Zanu-PF because how on earth would one come up with such figures, did they consult all the stakeholders involved because when such issues happen, I think there should be even a cabinet ruling or other statutory instruments that enforce that to happen,” said Moyo.
“But we know that the government of Zimbabwe through its leader Emmerson Mnangagwa have never won an election since 1980 up to date, so it came as a way of trying to reduce political players in the coming elections.”
