Categories: Stories

Villagers in Mashonaland East urge Mugabe not to contest next year’s elections because he is too old

Opinion leaders from Murehwa and Mutoko today told Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai that there must be a national clarion call to urge President Robert Mugabe not to contest next year’s elections because he is too old.

They said that at 94 (next year), it will be impossible for him to come up with any new ideas to rescue the country from the current abyss.

Mugabe has been endorsed by his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front as its presidential candidate next year.

Though there have been calls for him to step down, including from war veterans, Mugabe insists there is no suitable replacement yet.

Tsvangirai’s spokesman, Luke Tamborinyoka, said one war veteran bemoaned the fact that the war of liberation had brought independence but not freedom.

“Independence came alone, unclothed with the requisite freedoms for which so many Zimbabweans died,” Tamborinyoka quoted him as saying.

Tsvangirai is currently on a meet-the-people tour of Mashonaland East and winds it up tomorrow in Marondera where he will address the party’s provincial assembly.

The people of Mashonaland East have told him that they are living in fear because ZANU-PF continues to emasculate communities, particularly chiefs and headmen, coercing them to frog-march people to vote for ZANU-PF in the next elections.

They said the national challenge was to unlock the fear planted in the villages and local areas where people were not free to express themselves.

Tsvangirai takes his tour to Mashonaland Central on Wednesday.

Continued next page

(570 VIEWS)

This post was last modified on %s = human-readable time difference 2:40 pm

Page: 1 2

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

ZiG firms against US dollar for 10 days running but people still do not have confidence in the currency

Zimbabwe’s new currency, the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG), firmed against the United States dollars for 10…

November 16, 2024

Zimbabwe among the top countries with the widest gap between the rich and poor

Zimbabwe is among the top 30 countries in the world with the widest gap between…

November 14, 2024

Can the ZiG sustain its rally against the US dollar?

Zimbabwe’s battered currency, the Zimbabwe Gold, which was under attack until the central bank devalued…

November 10, 2024

Will Mnangagwa go against the trend in the region?

Plans by the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front to push President Emmerson Mnangagwa to…

October 22, 2024

The Zimbabwe government and not saboteurs sabotaging ZiG

The Zimbabwe government’s insatiable demand for money to satisfy its own needs, which has exceeded…

October 20, 2024

The Zimbabwe Gold will regain its value if the government does this…

Economist Eddie Cross says the Zimbabwe Gold (ZiG) will regain its value if the government…

October 16, 2024