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Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Speculation grows about a 'Mnangagwa third term' ahead vote for second one
2023-08-22
[AFRICANEWS] Zim-bob-we's President Emmerson Mnangagwa is slated to pursue a second five-year term next week.**According to the constitution, this term should mark his final one.

However,
the way to a man's heart remains through his stomach...
a portion of his supporters has already begun advocating for a constitutional change that would permit him to seek a third term—an idea to which he appears somewhat open.

In July, during a gathering of a Christian sect that supports him, Mnangagwa made a statement implying that continuous rule could be achieved through prayers at church.

This remark reinforced the perception that the transformation he promised when he took over from long-standing authoritarian leader Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win....
six years ago has not materialized.

Sections of the ruling ZANU-PF party, including the youth and women's wings, have also called for a constitutional amendment to extend his rule beyond the prescribed two terms.

This situation represents a significant shift for the 80-year-old leader.

After being considered a potential successor to Mugabe for years, Mnangagwa faced a period of exile when Mugabe appeared to be grooming his wife for succession in 2017.

Mnangagwa returned after a popular coup later that year, vowing to depart from Mugabe's repressive and isolationist rule.

Political analysts have noted that he is not so different from his predecessor.

"You have someone who has been a political understudy of Robert Mugabe so all the negative things you can talk about Zim-bob-wean politics, Mnagangwa has grown up with that system and so now that he is in power and he has the military behind him, he is going to use those bad, same tactics to hold onto and remain in power," said Edgar Githua, an International Relations, Conflict and Diplomacy expert at United States International University-Africa. "He will weaponize anything to remain in power," he added.

Dubbed "the Crocodile," Mnangagwa was previously associated with enforcing Mugabe's tough actions.

These actions included the North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
n-trained military brigade's 1980s massacre of around 20,000 Ndebele ethnic minority individuals in the Matabeleland region while Mnangagwa served as security minister.

He was also linked to a violent mostly peaceful crackdown on the opposition following Mugabe's loss to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2008.

Despite this history, Mnangagwa initiated discussions about these past atrocities after becoming president and aimed to differentiate his administration from Mugabe's.

He made promises of compensating displaced white farmers, abolished a law mandating foreign business ownership be ceded to locals, and advocated for democracy.

He sought to restore relationships with Western countries, even applying for Zim-bob-we's reentry into the Commonwealth and engaging with international forums like the World Economic Forum.

Although some questioned whether Mnangagwa's rule would be different from the past, he managed to charm Western nations and investors.

Even the opposition, once critical of the ruling party showed some support by attending his inauguration.
Related:
Emmerson Mnangagwa: 2023-07-29 Putin offers Zimbabwe a presidential helicopter
Emmerson Mnangagwa: 2023-06-02 Zimbabwe: Freedoms threatened by 'terrible' new law
Emmerson Mnangagwa: 2021-06-06 Letter from Africa: How Zimbabwe is still haunted by Robert Mugabe
Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Chamisa in Freak Accident
2018-06-20
[All Africa] MDC Alliance presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa yesterday escaped unhurt after a poorly constructed stage collapsed while he was introducing his party's candidates at a rally in Hwange.

The incident, together with a traffic accident which seriously injured 19 of his supporters after a truck they were travelling in overturned in Binga on Saturday, overshadowed his weekend sojourn in Matabeleland North.

The supporters injured in the road traffic accident were coming from a rally addressed by Mr Chamisa at Manjolo Business Centre on Saturday.

Yesterday, as Mr Chamisa was introducing aspiring council candidates under the MDC Alliance banner at a rally in Hwange at No. 1 Old Grounds, the stage collapsed, sending everyone to the ground, although Mr Chamisa managed to remain on his feet.

Addressing another rally at Chinotimba Stadium in Victoria Falls yesterday, Mr Chamisa bragged that unlike his predecessor, the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, he will not allow the election to go ahead without electoral reforms.

"(President) Mnangagwa wants to get into office through the window, abusing conditions for elections," he said.

"That's why I told him that I will not accept what they used to do to Tsvangirai who was robbed with his eyes open.

"As long as we don't agree on the issue of ballot paper, the election will not be done."

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Tsvangirai nurse found dead
2018-03-02
[HERALD.CO.ZW] THE Zim-bob-wean nurse working in a South African hospital, who caused a stir when a picture of her posing next to the late MDC-T president Mr Morgan Tsvangirai during his final days went viral on social media, has died, amid fears she could have been murdered.

Ms Nomsa Ncube, who worked at the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre (WDGMC) in Johannesburg, South Africa, was reportedly found dead at her flat in Johannesburg on February 18, four days after the former Prime Minister succumbed to cancer of the colon.

Mr Tsvangirai, who was buried at his Buhera rural home last Tuesday, was diagnosed with the cancer in 2016. The opposition politician had been visiting the hospital for two years for what his aides called ’routine treatment’.

He died on February 14 after a month-long admission. Ms Ncube came under the spotlight when a picture of her posing next to the ailing politician during his final days went viral on social media. There are different versions on the cause of her death.

A family member who spoke on condition of anonymity said she may have been killed, while some online sources alleged that she did away with himself following public condemnation when her picture with the late politician started circulating.

Zim-bob-we’s consul general to South Africa Mr Batiraishe Mukonoweshuro confirmed that Ms Ncube had died. He said investigations were underway.

"I am told that the South African Police Service is still dealing with the case and ascertaining the circumstances around how she passed on," said Mr Mukonoweshuro. "No information has been available as to how she died, purportedly on Sunday 18 February in the evening."

Mr Mukonoweshuro said his office was yet to get details on the issue. WDGMC manager Ms Sue Tager told our Bulawayo Bureau that she was not in a position to comment on the incident.

"I am so sorry because we do not comment on media reports, hence I cannot say anything," she said. "I will not be able to help you."

A source in Ms Ncube’s family who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that she was killed as she was found in a pool of blood.

"We suspect that she was killed because her body was found lying in a pool of blood," said the source. "At first we believed that she had did away with himself, but we are certain of foul play though we cannot really say why she was killed or who did it."

A Zim-bob-wean nurse registered with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) allegedly wrote to the professional body demanding action against the nurse after her picture with Mr Tsvangirai went viral. In the complaint, the nurse, identified only as S. Masawi, demanded that Ms Ncube be charged with misconduct.

"May I bring to your attention the attached image showing one of your nurses posing for a picture with a patient who is clearly on his final days," wrote Masawi.

"The patient is a well known Zim-bob-wean politician Mr Morgan Tsvangirai who passed away today (Wednesday) 14 Feb 2018 at the well-known hospital in Africa WDGMC (Wits Gordon, South African Hospital).

"I am a fellow registered nurse myself and, sadly, l find the actions of your staff member, a fellow professional colleague to be grossly inappropriate, unprofessional and in breach of the nursing profession’s code of conduct. I would like to assume a breach in the local hospital policies as well."

In response, a spokesperson for the hospital said disciplinary measures had been taken.

"It is with regret that we note recent posts on social media showing a photograph of Mr Tsvangirai with a nursing staff member," the official was quoted as saying. "We have investigated the matter and, according to the nursing staff member, the photograph was taken with the permission of Mr Tsvangirai.
Link


-Obits-
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai dies
2018-02-15
[Al Jazeera] Zim-bob-we opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has died aged 65 after a battle with cancer, party officials have said.
At least he hung on long enough to see Bob and Grace shown the door.
Elias Mudzuri, a vice president of the Movement for Democratic Change party, reported Tsvangirai's death in a post on Twitter on Wednesday.

"It is sad for me to announce that we have lost our icon and fighter for democracy," Mudzuri wrote.

Tsvangirai had been in and out of hospital in South Africa after revealing in 2016 that he had colon cancer.

Read more about Tsvangirai here, and watch a 2009 interview with him here.

He served as prime minister under ex-President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win....
in a 2009-2013 unity government.

Obert Gutu, party front man, confirmed Tsvangirai's death on Twitter, calling him "a political icon, a humble and tenacious fighter for the creation of a peaceful, stable, democratic and progressive nation state in Zim-bob-we".

Last week, Tsvangirai had taken to Twitter to play down speculation that his illness was terminal.

"I have cancer and [am] not feeling too well, but I am stable and the process is under control. ... I am recovering," he wrote on February 6.

Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa, reporting from Harare, said that people in Zim-bob-we's capital were "shocked" at the news of his death.
Sounds like he was too.
Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe Lifts Counter-Sanctions Against Europe
2018-02-13
[All Africa] Zim-bob-we will invite international observers to monitor its elections later this year, signaling a shift in relations with Europe, whose observer missions the deposed administration of Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win....
barred from attending.

The European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
(EU) have not been invited since 2000 when Mugabe accused Western nations of impartiality and using the opposition to effect regime change. This was in reaction to the EU slapping his government with sanctions for alleged electoral fraud and human rights
...which are often intentionally defined so widely as to be meaningless...
violations.

Tensions have eased with new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa at the helm.

He has assured the international community of credible, free and fair elections scheduled for July, hence his pledge EU, Unites States of America (USA) and United Nations
...the Oyster Bay money pit...
(UN) observers would be invited.

Addressing ruling party, Zanu-PF supporters in Mvuma, some 200km south of Harare, Mnangagwa also reiterated the call for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
(AU) to deploy observer teams.

"There is nothing to hide. We want a peaceful and a transparent election. There is no reason for Zanu-PF or any other political party to be violent," Mnangagwa said.

He said the ruling party supporters should desist from violence against opposition activists.

"All citizens belong to one nation, which is Zim-bob-we," Mnangagwa said.

His party, under Mugabe, has been accused of unleashing violence against the opposition to maintain a stranglehold on power since independence from Britannia in 1980.

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) of ailing former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and National People's Party (NPP) of Mugabe's former Deputy, Joice Mujuru, are seen offering the biggest challenge to Zanu-PF.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Tsvangirai Terminally Ill, Claims Moyo
2018-01-08
[All Africa] FORMER Higher and Tertiary Education minister Jonathan Moyo has torched a storm after claiming opposition MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai is terminally ill and was taken advantage of by President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Tsvangirai, two years ago, went public and announced that he was suffering from colon cancer. Since then, he has been in and out of hospital in neighbouring South Africa.

Mnangagwa paid Tsvangirai a surprise visit on one of the most poignant moments in his two months old regime following his take over from former President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case. Dumped in November 2017 when the Missus decided she wanted to be president, and opposed heer might against Crocodile Mnangawa Important safety tip: If your opponent goes by the name Crocodile andf your title is Shopper in Chief let him win....
on the back of a military coup in November.

But Moyo, one of the biggest casualties of the military coup and now said to be holed up in Kenya after reportedly escaping death by a whisker said Mnangagwa's visit was unAfrican.

"There is no public relations coup and no history. It is ambulance chasing propaganda for the optics of exploiting a terminally ill political rival. The propaganda is cynical, crude, desperate and unAfrican.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: President Visits Tsvangirai
2018-01-07
[All Africa] President Emmerson Mnangagwa visited MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who is battling colon cancer, at his residence in Highlands today. President Mnangagwa was accompanied by Vice President General Constantino Chiwenga (Rtd). Addressing the media soon after the visit, the President said Mr Tsvangirai was recovering.

"He is fine and recuperating very well and he says he will soon be going back for further medical check-ups in South Africa," President Mnangagwa said.

Asked on the possibility of forming a Government of National Unity (GNU), the President brushed aside the idea saying there was no need for that.

"What's the cause (to form a GNU)?" he said. "You are allowed to lobby, it's a democratic country. People are allowed to lobby for anything. Currently, there is no need (to form a GNU)," he added.

Meanwhile MDC-T deputy president, Mr Nelson Chamisa welcomed President Mnangagwa's visit.

"It's a welcome thing, it's African to care for one another; it's very Zim-bob-wean. This is the new politics we want to see, the politics of peace, the politics of working together, the politics of feeling for one another. This is the direction and we hope it is the kind of talk that will be walked and talk that will be sustained. Going forward we want to see a peaceful election in Zim-bob-we and we are very appreciative," Mr Chamisa said.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Mugabe stuns Zimbabwe by defying pressure to resign
2017-11-20
[REUTERS] President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
stunned Zim-bob-we on Sunday by making no mention of resignation in a television address, defying his own ZANU-PF party, which had sacked him hours earlier, and hundreds of thousands of protesters who had already hailed his downfall.

Two sources - one a senior member of the government, the other familiar with talks with leaders of the military - had told Rooters Mugabe would announce his resignation to the nation after ZANU-PF dismissed him as its leader in a move precipitated by an army takeover four days earlier.

But in the speech from his State House office, sitting alongside a row of generals, Mugabe acknowledged criticisms from ZANU-PF, the military and the public but made no mention of his own position.

Instead, he said the events of the week were not "a challenge to my authority as head of state and government", and pledged to preside over the congress scheduled for next month.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was dumbstruck.

"I am baffled. It’s not just me, it’s the whole nation. He’s playing a game," he told Rooters. "He is trying to manipulate everyone. He has let the whole nation down."

ZANU-PF had given the 93-year-old, who has led his country since independence in 1980, less than 24 hours to quit as head of state or face impeachment, an attempt to secure a peaceful end to his tenure after a de facto military coup.

Chris Mutsvangwa, the leader of the liberation war veterans who have been spearheading an 18-month campaign to oust Mugabe, said plans to impeach him in parliament, which next sits on Tuesday, would now go ahead, and that there would be mass protests on Wednesday.

He also implied that Mugabe, who spoke with a firm voice but occasionally lost his way in his script during the 20-minute address, was not aware of what had happened just hours earlier.

"Blind Or Deaf"
"Either somebody within ZANU-PF didn’t tell him what had happened within his own party, so he went and addressed that meeting oblivious, or (he was) blind or deaf to what his party has told him," Mutsvangwa said.

ZANU-PF’s central committee had earlier named Emmerson Mnangagwa as its new leader. It was Mugabe’s sacking of Mnangagwa as his vice-president - to pave the way for his wife Grace to succeed him - that triggered the army’s intervention.

On Saturday, hundreds of thousands had taken to the streets of the capital Harare to celebrate Mugabe’s expected downfall and hail a new era for their country.
Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe's opposition leader demands civilian rule
2017-11-17
[Al Jazeera] The leader Zim-bob-we's largest opposition alliance has called on the world's oldest sitting president to voluntarily step aside as the country entered its second day of a military takeover.

"In the interest of the people, Mr Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Nonagenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
must resign and step down immediately in line with the national expectation and sentiment," Morgan Tsvangirai said at a presser on Thursday.

Former vice president Joice Mujuru - who was dismissed in 2014 on allegations of plotting against Mugabe - declined to comment on the president's confinement. But she has said the situation highlighted the need to create a transitional administration to oversee free-and-fair elections in the southern African nation.

Former finance minister Tendai Biti echoed Tsvangirai's sentiments on Mugabe's resignation and told Al Jazeera the time had come draw a line in the sand for Mugabe’s 37-year rule.

"Mugabe cannot resist anymore because it will result in those who want him gone using extra-legal means to remove him from power. That will be a very unfortunate end, but you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see that it’s inevitable," Biti said in a phone interview.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Flees As Cops, Messenger of Court Raid MDC-T Office
2017-07-30
[All Africa] MDC-T President Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday fled his party's Harvest House head offices after a contingent of armed police and the deputy sheriff from the messenger of court raided the building.

The deputy sheriff who emptied over five offices at the Harvest House taking all the furniture for auctioning , was acting under the instruction of the courts which ruled in favour of 117 former and current MDC-T employees, whom the party owes their dues.

Mid-morning Friday, MDC-T leadership which includes Tsvangirai and his deputy Nelson Chamisa, abandoned the meeting they were presiding over and fled the building as a result of the fracas.

Sesil Zvidzai, the party's Presidential affairs secretary, told news hounds that they had to adjourn a national standing committee meeting which the movement was conducting.

"The national standing committee wanted to deliberate on election preparedness and we suddenly saw a whole army, of armed police coming through for the purposes that we do not understand.

"We also saw the furniture being taken out by the deputy sheriff .We see this a harassment as we go to the elections which we are going to beat Zanu PF and they want the whole country to believe that we are not organized," said Zvidzai as he also shifted the blame to their political rival Zanu PF .

"We had started the meeting and we were then disturbed, but the meeting is carrying on .This is our headquarters, this is our home, this is where all plans for transformation take place, so the President is always here to work for the people of Zim-bob-we, but unfortunately there are detractors who do not want to see a progressive Zim-bob-we," he said.

Link


Africa Subsaharan
Zimbabwe: Mugabe Dared to Kill Protesters
2016-09-12
All major opposition political parties yesterday vowed to defy President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Octogenarian President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
's threats against demonstrations, saying they are prepared to die on the streets for their freedom.

Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC-T party, Joice Mujuru's People First, the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, People's Democratic Party led by Tendai Biti and other members of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera) representing all of Zim-bob-we's opposition parties said yesterday that following Mugabe's deadly threats against opposition leaders, they had met and resolved to resume the demonstrations on an even higher note.

Addressing the Zanu PF central committee meeting on Friday, Mugabe warned the opposition, in particular MDC-T leader, Tsvangirai that he would unleash his full wrath on them if they continued with street protests against his rule. He said his patience was running out and that no one should blame him for whatever would befall the opposition leaders.

MDC-T secretary-general Douglas Mwonzora, however, said in view of Mugabe's threats and police brutality, opposition parties had met on Friday and agreed to turn up the heat on the 92-year-old Zanu PF leader.

"We will up our game against Mugabe. We are not afraid of him or his police. He must know that we are not about to negotiate with him for our constitutional rights and as Nera, we have resolved to continue with demonstrations," he said.

Mwonzora accused Mugabe of being delusional and forgetting that he was the one who signed the 2013 constitution into law, that he now wanted to violate.

The MDC-T said it would stand in defiance and let the police decide whether or not to harm demonstrators in the wake of statements by Mugabe, which seemed to give the police a free reign.

"It's the choice of the police whether or not they should shed blood of innocent protestors. That there are murderers in the system will not stop us from sending a message and taking action which will benefit the future of Zim-bob-we," said Mwonzora.

Tsvangirai's spokesperson, Luke Tamborinyoka said Mugabe was caught up in an "embarrassing time warp," as he was failing to understand that demonstrations were permissible in the new constitution.

"He is living out of his time; an analogue politician in a digital age, a Remington typewriter in an internet cafe. President Tsvangirai is not moved at all by these threats from an old man shocked to the core by the resurgence of people power," Tamborinyoka said.

He accused Mugabe of always blaming Tsvangirai for whatever problem he faced including family issues.

"He is haunted by the ghost of the man who has taught him electoral defeat to the extent that even where the people speak he sees not them but the ghost of his political master, the only man who makes him quiver like reeds in a howling storm," Tamborinyoka said.

Zim-bob-we People First (ZimPF) said following years of experience working with Mugabe, their leader and former Vice President, Joice Mujuru, was well aware that the Zanu PF leader was not a person to negotiate with.

"The people who have been in Zanu PF and are now with ZimPF know from experience that you cannot negotiate with Mugabe. The only language he understands is the demonstrations, so we are not going to attempt to negotiate with him," ZimPF spokesperson Jealousy Mawarire said.
Link


Africa Subsaharan
Mugabe Worried at Divisions Threatening His Ruling Party
2014-08-01
[An Nahar] Zim-bob-we President Bob Muggsy Mugabe
Octogenarian (maybe nonagenarian by now) President-for-Life of Zim-bob-we who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case...
on Thursday complained that factionalism that forced him into a compromise government with his rivals five years ago was now threatening to tear his party apart.

Addressing party and government officials at an event to celebrate his ZANU-PF party's election victory last year, Mugabe described the power-sharing government with long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai as "humiliating".

"We had been shackled together with the likes of Tsvangirai and (opposition faction leader) Welshman Ncube," Mugabe said.

"That came about because we were divided. We allowed ourselves to be divided. It should never happen again."

Mugabe beat Tsvangirai in general elections on July 31 last year, ending the five-year power-sharing government which was characterized by bickering.

Mugabe's party has been divided into factions jostling to succeed the veteran ruler, who at 90 years is the Africa's oldest leader.
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