A protest vote is looming in President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s backyard in Midlands where Zanu PF grassroots are rejecting recently elected party candidates in more than 10 constituencies.

Insiders said a bhora musango/ibhola egangeni was looming in constituencies where Mnangagwa’s allies allegedly hijacked internal processes to deploy their associates to represent the ruling party in the upcoming elections.

Bhora musango was popularised during the 2008 elections where Zanu PF supporters voted for the ruling party candidates for parliamentary seats while rejecting the late president Robert Mugabe for factional reasons.

Mugabe was almost booted out of power after subsequently losing to the late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the election.

He only survived through a violent campaign ahead of a presidential run-off where he ran unchallenged after Tsvangirai pulled out citing violence against his supporters.

In the latest Zanu PF internal wars, insiders said the protests in the Midlands were against Mnangagwa’s allies.

According to insiders, there is simmering discontent in the party in the way the primaries were handled where Mnangagwa’s allies held sway on who was to be elected or not.

Sources said Local Government minister July Moyo, former State Security minister Owen Ncube, politburo member Mackenzie Ncube and Tsitsi Muzenda ran rings around the Forever Associate Zimbabwe (FAZ) and Heritage Trust, who were running the elections.- The Standard