Former Marondera West Member of Parliament Ambrose Mutinhiri has been confirmed as the leader of the National Patriotic Front and its presidential candidate in the coming elections.
A press statement issued today confirmed that Mutinhiri met former President Robert Mugabe yesterday to apprise him on the developments which included details that the NPF was initiated on 19 November the very day that the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front central committee met to elect Emmerson Mnangagwa as the party president.
Mutinhiri said he did not attend that central committee or the parliament session that moved to impeach Mugabe.
He claimed that the impeachment would not have succeeded because more than 50 ZANU-PF Members of Parliament had vowed to vote against the impeachment.
He also said two out of every three ZANU-PF members are behind the NPF which means Mnangagwa has less than one-third of the support of ZANU-PF members.
Below is the full press statement:
PRESS STATEMENT
Rtd Brigadier Ambrose Mutinhiri pays courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe
Harare-5 March 2018- Retired Brigadier General Ambrose Mutinhiri, who resigned from Parliament and Zanu PF last Friday over the unconstitutionality of the military coup that illegally imposed Emmerson Mnangagwa as President of Zimbabwe and led to the Army’s usurpation of the power and authority of civilian institutions including Zanu PF, paid a courtesy call on President Robert Mugabe at his Harare Blue Roof residence yesterday 4 March 2017.
Cde Mutinhiri is the Founding President and Presidential Candidate of the National Patriotic Front (NPF), whose formation was initiated on 19 November 2017 in direct response to the military coup four days earlier, and has come into fruition following an extensive private and public consultation process by its founding members.
The purpose of the courtesy call was to appraise. President Mugabe of Cde Mutinhiri’s bold and inspiring resignation as well as to thank the President for having afforded Cde Mutinhiri a cherished opportunity to work with and under him in various national capacities.
Cde Mutinhiri especially thanked President Mugabe for laying a solid and irreversible ground for generational renewal in Parliament and government through progressive policies that have empowered the youth who are now poised for unstoppable leadership roles across the political divide and in business, civil society and churches.
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