By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Ahead of the August 23 national election, President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa has said his citizens would be “lost” if they fail to re-elect him for a fresh term in office.
He told over 150,000 supporters in the capital Harare on Wednesday that his party ZANU-PF will win.
“If Harare fails to vote Zanu-PF, you will be lost,” the 80-year-old strongman who succeeded Robert Mugabe in 2017 said as he addressed supporters.
“No one will stop us from ruling this country,” he said at the party’s first major rally in the capital.
Amidst crackdown against opposition, this month’s election will see Zimbabweans elect a new president and members of parliament in what analysts expect to be a tense affair, in the country battling inflation, poverty and high unemployment.
Mnangagwa, 80, will for a second time slug it out with Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor who heads the country’s largest opposition party the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
At the party’s manifesto launch on Tuesday evening, Chamisa accused Zanu-PF of “resorting to dirty tricks” because the party was in “panic mode”.
The CCC is stronger in disaffected urban areas while Zanu-PF is banking on a strong showing in its rural strongholds, observers say.
Mnangagwa accused Chamisa of promising Zimbabweans aid from Washington in exchange for votes.
“Every country” was “developed by its own people, it’s shameful that Chamisa wants Zimbabwe to be developed by Biden,” he said.
“There are… negative people outside the country who want us to be violent,” he said, adding, “Peace remains our beacon”.
