WASHINGTON - President Emmerson Mnangagwa says traditional leaders should vote for Zanu PF in the forthcoming presidential, parliamentary and council elections to be held sometime this year.
Speaking Wednesday at a meeting with chiefs in Zimbabwe’s second largest city, Bulawayo, Mnangagwa said, “You have to defend the African heritage. You have to defend the identity and the respect of the African person by voting for the only revolutionary party in this country, Zanu PF.”
Chief Fortune Charumbira, president of the Chiefs Council, echoed Mnangagwa’s remarks saying traditional leaders should mobilize Zimbabweans to vote for the ruling party.
“When you cast your votes, remember that there are some people who fought for the liberation of this country,” said Charumbira.
Mnangagwa is expected to announce the dates of the elections soon as Zimbabwe is already mopping up potential voters ahead of the polls.
Mnangagwa narrowly defeated then Movement for Democratic Change Alliance leader, Nelson Chamisa, in the 2018 presidential election. Chamisa took the matter to the Electoral Court, which declared Mnangagwa the winner. But Chamisa still says he does not recognize Mnangagwa’s victory.
According to Reuters, the election, in which Mnangagwa and Chamisa were the main contenders, was touted as a crucial step towards shedding Zimbabwe’s pariah reputation and securing international donor funding to revive an economy suffering chronic shortages of investment and cash, as well as high unemployment. An army crackdown in response to post-election violence by opposition supporters left six people dead on August 1st, 2018.
Mnangagwa toppled the late former President Robert Mugabe in a defacto military coup in 2017.
Annahstacia Ndlovu and Kudzanai Musengi contributed to this article