Gwanda South Parliamentary candidate dies

By Tichaona Sibanda
28 February 2008

The Mutambara faction of the MDC was dealt a blow on Tuesday when their parliamentary candidate for Gwanda South, Glory Mukwati, died after suffering a massive stroke.

Party spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi said Mukwati showed no signs of ill-health and that his sudden death has come as a shock to many people who knew him. He suffered the stroke when he was driving to Gwanda to deliver campaign materials to the constituency.

‘His death is tragic for Zimbabwe for the simple reason that he was a professional man who is known to have promoted education not only in the region but all over the country. He is somebody who established a number of teaching aids to the extent that he was very prominent in the education system,’ Themba Nyathi said.

The long serving educationist was due to contest the Gwanda South seat against Ephat Mdlongwa of the MDC (Tsvangirai) and Zanu-PF’s Orders Mlilo, in next month’s elections.

The MDC expects elections in the constituency to be postponed to a later date. According to Themba Nyathi, Section 50 of the electoral act says if a candidate dies before an election, they would call for a by-election.

‘What this means is that we expect the elections in Gwanda South to be postponed in accordance with the electoral act to allow us to submit nomination papers for another candidate. When this is done, we expect ZEC to call for a by-election,’ Themba Nyathi added.