EXILED former Cabinet Minister Jonathan Moyo was left incensed after Bulawayo Mayor David Coltart urged opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters to vote for Zapu candidates at Saturday’s by-elections.
Moyo, who has been in self-imposed exile since the ouster of late President Robert Mugabe in November 2017, said Coltart’s move to ‘campaign for Zapu on election day’ was illegal.
Coltart’s message, posted on X Saturday morning, was in response to a High Court ruling barring CCC candidates from contesting, a decision that analysts said was just as good as handing the seats to Zanu PF.
“Now that our five Members of Parliament (MP) candidates in Bulawayo have been unlawfully barred from standing for election I urge citizens to vote where possible for Zapu candidates,” said Coltart in a post that was later deleted.
“Zapu is a democratic party and they will serve our interests much better than Zanu PF or pseudo Zanu PF candidates.”
Sengezo Tshabangu, who claims to be CCC’s Interim Secretary General caused the by-elections after recalling 14 MPs and eight Senators on grounds they had ceased to be members of his party.
The Bulawayo-based opposition party appreciated his gesture, telling Moyo to report the case at any Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) station of his choice.
Moyo had up until late last year been a strong advocate for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa and his CCC project before a dramatic fallout that saw him reverting to supporting Zanu PF and erstwhile rival Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa’s allies reportedly authorised an attack on Moyo’s Harare home at the height of the 2017 coup which saw him and allies in Zanu PF’s losing G40 faction fleeing the capital for different countries within the region.
“And here you are campaigning on election day. It’s illegal, you know it; not least because you are a lawyer and a politician who has contested in many elections before,” said Moyo in a lengthy tweet before saying the same on a by-election space hosted by CITE ZW.
“You think the law does not apply to you, so you violate it with impunity and with reckless abandon because you are the special one, the chosen one. Shame on you, David Coltart.
“You can say and scream all you want, with all the support of Chamisa’s trolls, but you and your lot are an embarrassment and a danger to society because you never ever play by the rules; no, you are always a law unto yourselves.”
Source NewZimbabwe
