'Rigging fears grip' Zim opposition
+$5$5( =iPbabZe s fiUst post Mugabe elections are set to be held in four months time, but President Emmerson Mnangagwa and and his deputy Constantino Chiwenga are not on the ground campaigning for polls.
According to New Zimbabwe. com, this has ignited "rigging fears" among Zanu-PF opponents, who claim that the southern African country might witness a repeat of the same scenario as that of the 2013 elections when Robert Mugabe went on to post a thumping victory against his challengers when he was hardly on the ground campaigning.
Mnangagwa, the report said, has remained absent from the campaign arena, at a time when "his main challenger Nelson Chamisa and allies have almost covered every piece of ground in the country in their bid to seek popular support ahead of the elections."
Former Higher and Tertiary Education minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo, suggested on his Twitter page last week that Mnangagwa and Chiwengwa could be planning to rig the elections.
"Why are Mnangagwa and Chiwenga not on the ground campaigning with polls 4 months away? A. They' ve a rigging plan B. Army will do another coup C. They've given up," Moyo tweeted.
Zanu-PF spokesperson, Simon Khaya Moyo, however, rubbished Moyo's remarks, saying that the party's campaign season had not yet started.
"Campaigns begin when we launch our manifesto. None of us are campaigning. We do not start campaigning before the launch of the manifesto. That is what the position is," Khaya Moyo was quoted as saying.
But the the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MCD) Alliance spokesperson, Welshman Ncube, said that it was clear Zanu-PF had become a military organisation since last November when the army played a significant role in Mnangagwa's rise to power.
"It is wrong to think or assume that Zanu-PF has not been campaigning.
They are on the ground, but not in the traditional way we all know political parties operating," NewsDay cited Ncube as saying.
"Zanu-PF is now a military organisation. There are no true civilians in control of Zanu PF as we speak. You will not see the ordinary campaign you will see from a normal political party because the military is laying the groundwork for a final assault on the people as we head into the election," said Ncube.