The candidates, some of them councillors and members of parliament, claim that party officials altered their application documents.
Mayor Alderman Femias Chakabuda and aspiring mayor David Charirwe are among those who have expressed their concern.
“My papers were tampered with and we have since written a letter to top party officials in Harare over this issue,” said Deputy mayor Selina Maridza who is also an aspiring candidate.
Ward six councillor, David Vasivenyu, also claims that the vetting process was not transparent.
“We hear that bad comments were inscribed on some people’s application papers with the intention to have some of us booted out of the race,” said Vasivenyu.
“We need to be mature. How can trusted people write false information,” asked Clemence Kambarami, a former ward four councillor in Masvingo urban. “We know for sure that some people are afraid of losing party primaries. We have written letters of complaints to the national executive and we are just awaiting a response.”
MDC-T Masvingo provincial chairman, Wilstaf Sitemere, this week confirmed that some aspiring candidates had written letters of complaint.
Sitemere, however, dismissed the allegations, adding that it was those people who were involved in corrupt activities who were afraid of being exposed by the vetting process. “We have always done our work above board and no one should cry foul,” said Sitemere. “Those involved in corruption are just afraid that their bad acts are going to be unveiled.”
Over 1500 people from Masvingo province alone applied to contest posts on an MDC-T ticket in the forthcoming elections.
Post published in: News