Now Zapu has told The Zimbabwean exclusively that its recent call for candidates had raked senior retired army officers, war veterans, civil servants and professionals into the ranks of candidates for the next local and national elections tentatively scheduled for 2012, but which could be delayed until 2013.
Zapu spokesperson Methuseli Moyo confirmed the presence of the high-profile defectors but withheld their identities.
“It is pleasing to note that there are some Zanu (PF), MDC and MDC-T incumbents, especially councillors, who all along have been itching to join Zapu. But we advised them to stay where they are until we are certain when elections would be. We are glad to announce that some of them have made concrete moves to join the people's party. We will disclose their identities when it is right for them and the party," Moyo said.
The party recently launched a global call for members willing to represent the party as electoral candidates to submit their details.
"The response has been overwhelming,” Moyo said. “CVs and applications are arriving by email from around the country and from the SADC region and from overseas; some by hand, and others by buses from the hinterland. We are excited and humbled by the faith shown by the daughters and sons of Zimbabwe, at home and abroad, in Zapu. This party is the founding and authentic liberation movement and fighter for human rights and democracy in Zimbabwe.”
The spokesman said among the prospective candidates were “ordinary citizens, teachers, doctors, nurses, ex-soldiers, freedom fighters, doctors, professors, engineers, lawyers, businesspeople”.
He said Zapu had designed a comprehensive 'vetting form' in which candidates declare all the relevant data about themselves. Provincial vetting committees had also been set up to go through the applicants and short-list possible candidates.
These will then be presented to the respective constituencies or wards to explain themselves and their vision to party members at meetings to be convened at wards and constituencies.
The final candidates would be chosen by consensus after the presentations, he added.
Post published in: News