Categories: Stories

Mugabe aiming high

President Robert Mugabe is aiming. He wants to win the elections at the end of this month by 90 percent in what he said was a do-or die struggle. And if he was genuine, he was letting the people decide, peacefully.

He told a rally at Zimbabwe Grounds, in Highfield, at the launch of his 2013 campaign:

“We will only be your supporters, but we will be assisting so that we are elected and elected resoundingly. We are here not only to congratulate, we are also here to send you on a mission, to give you top authority of the party to represent it in the election and to enable you to conquer…..

“You are our soldiers; you have a battle to fight. Go into battle well armed with full knowledge that there is a political enemy. This is a do-or-die struggle. You are not alone because your victory will be our victory and your defeat, alas, will be our defeat. We want you to succeed…..

“Will it be just 51 upon 100?…Fifty one percent, 60 percent, 70 percent, 80 percent, 90 percent … Let us expect that we lose one or two men who have fallen as soldiers in a fight but we shall be able to say that our victory was not less than 90 percent. Tell the rest of the country that you have seen the soldiers that we put together. We have shaken their hands and we have strengthened them as fighters on our behalf.

“Go ye, fight the battle and come back and tell us that you have won.  Go ye meet the people, talk to the people, because you came from people, you were elected….

“Go back to them and join forces in going to the national battle. It’s a battle for survival and all of us should support them. We shall work together and make the pledge that we of ZANU-PF do not know defeat. We, yes, suffer losses, losses of individuals here and there, a setback but we are able to re-organise and come back invigorated and wage a real, real, vigorous, devastating battle and this one should be a fight of our lives.”

(78 VIEWS)

Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

Recent Posts

Zimbabwe third among the least free countries in SADC

Zimbabwe has been ranked third among the least free countries in Southern Africa but it…

May 24, 2026

Why I had a girlfriend two months after my wife’s death- Take 1

I had always considered it a curse for a wife to die before her husband.…

May 18, 2026

Why I had a girlfriend two months after my wife’s death

This is a true story about the challenges and loneliness I faced when my wife…

May 17, 2026

Coming soon

My first long-form article in booklet form: Why I had a girlfriend two months after…

May 16, 2026

Insider Publisher starts whatsapp channel

The editor and publisher of The Insider, Charles Rukuni, has started a whatsapp channel through…

May 15, 2026

Who propped whom: Masiyiwa vs Nyambirai?

A friend who knows about my legal battle with Zimbabwe’s richest man, Strive Masiyiwa, way…

May 1, 2026