Mugabe remains a hefty unseen presence at rallies
MASVINGO: Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe has been forced out but he has hardly faded away. Ahead of this month’s historic elections, dozens of people in T-shirts with his image danced to anti-government songs while vowing revenge.
The 94-year-old Mugabe, who led this southern African nation through 37 turbulent years before his dramatic, military-backed resignation in November, has emerged as a player ahead of the July 30 vote – on the side of the opposition.
A visit by reporters to the rural province of Masvingo found anger over Mugabe’s removal has been channelled into supporting candidates who challenge the ruling Zanu-PF party he long controlled.
“They removed Comrade Mugabe using military force. We should show them that the ballot box is supreme to the gun,” said Phionah Riekert, a 31-year-old loyalist of Mugabe and his wife Grace.
Riekert seeks a parliamentary seat as a candidate with the National Patriotic Front, which was formed with Mugabe’s backing in March by members of a youthful faction loyal to him called the G-40. They had been purged from the government and ruling party by new President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration.
The National Patriotic Front has joined an opposition coalition backing the top challenger to Mnangagwa, 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa of the main opposition MDC party, while fielding close to 100 candidates in 210 constituencies countrywide.
The margin between Mnangagwa and Chamisa has narrowed to three percentage points, the Afrobarometer research group said on Friday after sampling 2 400 voters between June 25 and July 6.
While Mugabe has not addressed any political rallies, he remains a weighty presence in places like Masvingo, where support has swung between the governing party and the opposition in past elections.
Some residents, however, said they remained fond of Mugabe but would vote for Mnangagwa.
Kudzai Mugarati said he still wears Mugabe T-shirts but hides them underneath his clothes. Part of that loyalty is tied to his land, part of a farm seized from white owners and divided among black supporters years ago during Mugabe’s often violent campaign of evictions.
“We cannot abandon Mugabe. He is our hero, he gave us this land. But we cannot leave Zanu-PF, so the best thing we can do is not to talk about him,” the 58-year-old Mugarati said.
Despite the apparent peace, the election’s credibility has been threatened by disputes over the transparency of the voters roll and the printing of ballots. Charamba, an opposition official, has taken the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to court in one of many cases brought in recent weeks by NGOs and others. Mnangagwa has pledged that the elections will be free and fair.