Zimbabwe’s Defence Forces today said they would be neutral in the coming elections scheduled for 30 July.
The military, which ushered in the Emmerson Mnangagwa administration after it intervened to force former President Robert Mugabe to step, has been under pressure to make a public announcement that it will accept the results of the coming elections especially if Mnangagwa loses.
Army spokesman Colonel Overson Mugwisi said today: “The Zimbabwe Defence Forces has no direct role in the upcoming elections. We are disturbed by false reports alleging that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces is going to be used by ZANU-PF to rig the posted vote.”
Mugwisi said if any serving members of the military were participating in the ongoing political campaigns, they were doing so illegally and not as an instruction from their commanders.
“The conduct of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces after elections is going to be guided by the constitution,” he said.
The military were put in a tight spot after Deputy Finance Minister Terrence Mukupe told a constituency meeting that the military did not intervene to let someone else take over.
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