Mnangagwa says he is free to make a proclamation for elections from 12 February?

On the staging of national elections:

“From the 12th of February I will be free to make a proclamation for general elections. There must be an environment of peace, no violence. We must allow people to agitate for whatever they want. They must be allowed to campaign for their views. We are opening Zimbabwe for observation. We will gladly accept those who want to observe our elections. We are open to accepting countries and organizations that genuinely want to come and observe, who come to Zimbabwe with an open mind. You can’t have an observation mission who declare themselves before they come. I am actually overconfident, which worries me. I cannot see of any other political party in the country today which embraces the wishes of the people which they demonstrated in November, calling for change. You don’t go into alliance before an election, its already a sign of weakness.”

On his relationship with Mugabe:

“I was with the former president for over 54 years. I don’t regret that, I feel very proud. It was necessary, it is history, each step where we worked together was a privilege and in terms of history that was necessary. And also what has happened today was necessary. The situation has changed, the public, the people want change and change has been granted. We must live for the future. I want the nation to be forward looking. What happened in the past necessarily happened and I have no regrets. When the time came, people demanded change and change was allowed to come by and a peaceful transition. The people’s voice, as I say, is the voice of god. All our people suddenly came together.”

On escaping from Zimbabwe after being fired as deputy president:

“Well I am not an accomplished border jumper but I did border jump. The issue was that I was fired at half past four. I wasn’t expecting it because really there was nothing, no contradiction between me and my boss. The contradiction was, the dislike was, by a cabal who felt that as long as I remained in the system I was an impediment to their agenda to take over. I got home. Within two and a half hours I got to know that my life was in danger, that I would be eliminated in the next few hours so I decided to leave the country. I could not use the formal border so I used the informal one, which resulted in me walking about 30 kilometers (19 miles) overnight into Mozambique. Then with the assistance of a friend I flew to South Africa.”

On his plans to crack down on corruption:

“I have said let bygones be bygones. This is at the level of political conflict. At the level of commission of crime, I would not be a democratic leader if I said those who committed crime should not (sentence inaudible). Let us forgive each other in terms of disagreements at the political level. We can continue to disagree but disagree peacefully. Some people, perhaps because of the crimes they have committed, have left the country. If you stole from somebody that is a civil matter, it’s a criminal matter. With regard to Professor Jonathan Moyo, there are already criminal cases. They are fugitives of justice.”

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