Zanu PF Narrowly Defeats CCC in 5 Council By-ElectionsZanu PF has won three of the five council by-elections held yesterday in Binga and the Midlands province. In a series of tweets, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Zanu PF candidates won in Mberengwa, Ward 5 in Gweru and Ward 20 in Binga. ZEC said the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa beat Zanu PF in Gweru’s ward 4 and ward 18. All the seats became vacant when Douglas Mwonzora’s Movement for Democratic Change recalled councilors claiming that they were aligning themselves with CCC. ZEC announced on Friday that five council by-elections in Binga were stopped by the High Court after Collen Mudenda, said to be a Zanu PF activist, filed an urgent chamber application seeking the nullification of the nomination of CCC candidates for allegedly failing to pay local government rates. In a statement, ZEC said, “The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission would like to inform members of the public that the High Court has ordered the suspension of by-elections in wards 6, 8, 10, 15 and 23 of Binga Rural District Council scheduled for Saturday 03 December 2022. “This follows urgent chamber applications by Collin Mudenda who challenged the nomination of John Simunene Sikabotu, Kingston Mpofu, Mathias Mudenda, Joseph Mwembe and Wilson SInampolomba on the grounds that they were disqualified from contesting as candidates in terms of Section 119(2)(h) of the Electoral Act. The Section states that a person shall be disqualified from being nominated as a candidate on the nomination day or the day of an election when he or she is in default with the payment of any levy, rate, charge or tax due and payable to the council concerned for more than 120 days.” ZEC said the High Court ordered that the Commission “should not proceed with the by-elections for the five wards pending the hearing of the cases which were postponed to 4 January 2023.