Chronicle (Zimbabwe)

Zanu-PF assured of victory

- Nduduzo Tshuma Political Editor

THE ruling Zanu-PF has officially started its campaign in what is a journey to certain victory as the party faces no credible opponents ahead of this year’s elections.

Having gotten rid of the divisive G40 cabal fronted by former First Lady Mrs Grace Mugabe, the party managed to reboot and emerged stronger in unity.

The ascendancy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to the helm of both party and State has ignited hope among Zimbabwean­s for a turnaround championed by the ruling party.

The most notable, but by no measure strong, opponent that President Mnangagwa faces in this year’s polls is MDC-T and MDC Alliance leader, Mr Nelson Chamisa.

With the divisions rocking the MDC-T and the break away by one of the party’s deputies Dr Thokozani Khupe and her faction to coalesce with National People’s Party (NPP) led by Dr Joice Mujuru, it will take a miracle greater than all those recorded in the Bible for them to shake Zanu-PF.

In the absence of Morgan Tsvangirai, the party’s founding leader, who died in February, the MDC-T will not garner the votes that it used to in the past, numbers which were still not enough to depose the ruling Zanu-PF.

Mr Chamisa, sounding more like a student leader than a presidenti­al aspirant, falls far below his predecesso­r and former boss Tsvangirai.

From misleading his supporters that they had been promised $15 billion by US President Donald Trump should they win this year’s elections, a claim refuted by the US, Mr Chamisa, in typical student politics grand standing has promised to bring bullet trains should his part romp to victory.

With Mr Chamisa, being the most prominent among minnows, it then becomes clear why the thought of a Zanu-PF electoral defeat can only reside in minds in great need of attention.

Besides Mr Chamisa’s college theatrics, the mood in the internatio­nal arena doesn’t favour the MDC-T and the rest of the opposition parties.

This has been evidenced by the overwhelmi­ng support that President Mnangagwa’s administra­tion has received since he was inaugurate­d as the Head of State in November last year.

Even the opposition is feeling the heat and recently complained bitterly over what they called a rush by foreign envoys to endorse President Mnangagwa’s administra­tion.

If things were to happen their way, the support that the President Mnangagwa administra­tion is getting should come after the holding of elections.

Read deeply, however, this is an indication that the opposition is isolated, perhaps the worst kind of isolation since the formation of the united MDC in 1999 as their traditiona­l donors have shifted attention and chosen to associate themselves with the new administra­tion under President Mnangagwa.

Since his inaugurati­on last November, President Mnangagwa and his administra­tion have been aggressive­ly engaging the internatio­nal community and re-assuring key business stakeholde­rs at home.

Recent reports indicate already the country has booked in excess of $3 billion investment proposals with more positive signals evidenced by the influx of foreign business delegation­s seeking to explore economic opportunit­ies.

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 ??  ?? President Emmerson Mnangagwa
President Emmerson Mnangagwa
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