After blast at rally, Zimbabwe president’s bid ‘likely stronger’
Police continue to probe the attack that authorities say killed at least two people
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s suggestion that opponents in the ruling party and not the opposition were responsible for an explosion at a campaign rally has probably strengthened his bid to win next month’s general elections, analysts said.
The first such attack in Zimbabwe’s history, at a political event at the White City stadium in the second-largest city of Bulawayo, immediately drew promises from Mnangagwa, 75, that the July 30 vote will be held on time and the opposition can campaign freely.
He suggested the authors of the explosion were among those who opposed his rise to power culminating in becoming president after the military forced Robert Mugabe to step down in November.
“There’s no doubt that the White City bombing has translated into political sympathy for Mnangagwa by portraying him as a victim,” said Rashweat Mukundu, an analyst at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute. “It serves him well as it shows apparent insight into his reaction to crisis as a reconciler rather than a vengeful leader.”
‘They have tried before’
While forensic scientists and the police continue to probe the attack that authorities say killed at least two people, including a member of the president’s security team, and injured about 50 on Saturday, Mnangagwa told state radio, “I know who my enemies are. They have tried before.”
He repeated accusations that elements within the governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front had tried to poison him in August last year. Mnangagwa later fled the country after Mugabe fired him as vice-president. He returned in November after a standoff saw parliament and the military force Mugabe to resign.
He was engaged in a bitter power struggle with a faction of mainly younger party members known as the Generation 40 that backed Mugabe’s wife.