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Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa told over 150,000 supporters in Harare on Wednesday that they would be “lost” if they did not re-elect him in this month’s tight elections.
“If Harare fails to vote Zanu-PF, you will be lost,” the 80-year-old strongman said as he addressed a rally for his party Zanu-PF near the city centre.
“No one will stop us from ruling this country,” he said at the party’s first major rally in the capital.
Zimbabweans will vote for a new president and legislature on August 23 in what many predict will be a tense election, despite a crackdown on dissent and a disgruntled populace suffering from hyperinflation, poverty, and high unemployment.
Suspicions about possible election irregularities abound in a country that has been ruled by the same party since its independence in 1980 and has a lengthy history of contested votes.
Over 100 buses were organized to transport guests from various provinces to the event.
At the location, supporters were given lunch packs and party swag.
Some street vendors in Harare’s Mbare suburb told AFP they were forced to put down their tools and board buses bound for the march.
Mnangagwa will face Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and preacher who leads the country’s largest opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), for the second time.
Chamisa accused Zanu-PF of “resorting to dirty tricks” because the party was in “panic mode” at the party’s manifesto unveiling on Tuesday evening.
According to experts, the CCC is stronger in dissatisfied urban regions, whilst Zanu-PF is betting on a strong showing in its rural strongholds.
Mnangagwa accused Chamisa of bribing Zimbabweans with US aid in exchange for votes.
“Every country” was “developed by its own people, it’s shameful that Chamisa wants Zimbabwe to be developed by Biden,” he said.
Ahead of his speech, Mnangagwa unveiled a borehole which was drilled at the site.
The president has been on a ribbon-cutting spree in recent weeks in an effort to reassure voters about the state of the economy and his governance.
Last week he opened a coal mine, clinic and a coal-fired power plant that he said would go a long way in easing electricity shortages.
Dubbed “The Crocodile” for his political cunning, Mnangagwa won a violence-stained election with 50.8 percent of the vote at the last polls in 2018.
“There are… negative people outside the country who want us to be violent,” he said, adding, “Peace remains our beacon”.
