By A Correspondent| The marauding Elections Committee of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society continues in its destruction,itself allegedly put in place in contravention of the ZRCS constitution.
They are said to have gone to Epworth twice last week to dissolve the branch which was voted into office some time in July this year 2024 after verification of membership and other requirements having been done by the provincial manager Mrs. Vongai Masara. After dissolving the executive committee they are said to have put in place an interim committee, which committee surprisingly is made of members who do not have the required minimum qualifications as provided for in the constitution. Besides,it is said there is no provision for an interim committee in the ZRCS constitution.
Our under cover journalist yesterday 3 November, 2024 witnessed real drama during the elections at the Red Cross Highfield office. Getting into the premises was the most difficult of all things as there was a guard and a police officer in uniform at the gate who had a list of names of those who were allowed in,but she managed. In the premises was another uniformed police officer. But why,isn’t Red Cross a humanitarian organisation?
The process started off with an outline of why this meeting had been called, to hold elections as the previous one had been met with a lot of complaints about underqualified contestants who had been declared winners. There were grumblings from the members as they complained of having their time being wasted by endless meetings and the Elections Committee was openly accused of favouring “one group” who allegedly were bribing them. This journalist overheard some people complaining that this lawyer is destroying our organisation as he is the one now making all decisions and we have never seen things go so bad,vanhu havachawirirani because of him. At one time the commotion reached a level where the Elections Committee had lost control. They embarrassingly failed to answer questions put to them when they said all they were doing was in accordance with the constitution. The legal advisor Mr. Wellington Magaya from Coglan, Welsh and Guest was at pains to explain how they called for an election in less than four weeks after the call for nominations as is required by the constitution. He also couldn’t explain why some contestants had not been allowed into the premises. Asked by some agitated members why they are asking for academic qualifications when this is not a requirement for duty coverage he said this was a constitutional requirement and would make sure the constitution is ammended soon. In all this confusion the chairperson of the Elections Committee with the provincial manager started putting up names of nominees and their qualifications on the wall. Some members walked out saying they would not take part in such an illegal process where issues were not being addressed.
The committee at one stage got stuck and couldn’t make a decision in front of the people and the four of them: Mr. Gersham Hombarume,Mrs. Chimbodza(chair),Mr. Magaya and Mr. Musindo,who is said to be the provincial vice chairperson of Midlands, had to go out of the room. They were overhead saying only two contestants met all the requirements of the constitution but they couldn’t say this to the people. Why,why? Are they running an election impartially or driving an agenda? They are said to have agreed that they would say noone had all the requirements and would therefore put in place an interim committee,the branch executive members who were there in 2020. So,this they did. Asked if these people meet the requirements of the constitution Mr. Magaya said they are not affected by the current constitution as it came into effect in 2022. Investigations by this journalist revealed that the current constitution became effective in November 2018. The interim committee is made up of the same members who were controversially elected at the Red Cross High School on 7 September,2024,the same people who do not meet the minimum requirements of the constitution and had caused numerous complaints resulting in this meeting today.
It’s reliably understood that in Mashonaland West province only two districts were allowed to participate in the provincial elections because the other four did not have members who meet the requirements of the constitution. Why was the same principle of a previous executive committee being put in place not used in Mashonaland West? Investigations also show that the Elections Committee’s mandate is to conduct elections and not to set up structures like the branches or districts.
Where is the once glorious and humanitarian organisation of choice headed for? The once household name is now shamelessly self destroyed for unknown motives.