Nyusi wins Mozambique presidential election
MAPUTO. — Mozambique’s incumbent President Filipe Nyusi has won 73 percent of the votes in this month’s presidential poll, the electoral commission said, securing a landslide victory in a contest opposition parties say was marred by fraud and violence.
Ossufo Momade, the candidate for the main opposition party and former rebel movement Renamo, trailed behind with 21,88 percent of the vote, National Election Commission Chairman Abdul Carimo said at a news conference on Sunday.
During his second five-year term, Nyusi, of the ruling Frelimo party, will be responsible for overseeing a gas boom led by oil giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp and Total, battling an armed rebellion and delivering on a peace deal signed two months ago.
It was hoped the October 15 presidential, legislative and provincial poll could set the seal on the fragile deal, designed to put a definitive end to four decades of violence between Frelimo and Renamo, but instead the pact is at risk of falling apart as opposition parties reject the results.
Frelimo said the elections were free and fair. Nyusi was widely expected to triumph but not by such a large margin.
Daviz Simango, of the third largest party the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), secured just over four percent of the vote, with less than one percent going to Mario Albino, who heads up smaller party AMUSI, according to the electoral body.
Simango said earlier on Sunday that MDM sees the election outcome as “null and void”, and demanded an audit of the process that it said was tarnished after electoral administration bodies manipulated the process from the outset.
Renamo has also already rejected the outcome after estimations based on numbers posted outside polling stations predicted a big win for Nyusi and Frelimo. — Al Jazeera. Joseph Madzimure and Wallace Ruzvidzo
POLITICAL analysts have described as absurd the decision by the United States to add State Security Minister Owen Ncube on to the sanctions list.
Minister Ncube was added to the list on Friday, as SADC countries took part in various activities, including protest marches aimed at alerting the US to unconditionally lift the embargo that has ruined the Zimbabwe’s socio-economic standing.
The US State Department said it was adding Minister Ncube on to the sanctions list, claiming it had information of his involvement in “gross violations of human rights”.
Associate Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand Richard Chinomona yesterday said it was unfortunate that the US was peddling the unconfirmed mantra that there were abductions and violations of human rights by Zimbabwe’s security agencies.
“Perhaps because the USA uses the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) to do such dirty jobs in countries regarded as hostile to US foreign policy, they want to paint Zimbabwe’s security services with the same brush,” he said.
“Our situation in Zimbabwe is made worse because I suspect that there are some among us in Zimbabwe who want to push for such a narrative.
“The reason for pushing for such internal insurgency would be to push the Government to overreact and hence be accused for atrocities or even genocide, to warrant Zimbabwe’s isolation by the Southern African Development Community, African Union and the international community.”
Presidential aspirant Mr Bryn Taurai Mteki also slammed the inclusion of Minister Ncube and described the move as a case of “gross human rights abuse”.
“This is very unfortunate and we simply continue to plead with America that we need to be heard as a country collectively and we speak with one voice that sanctions must go,” he said.
Mr Mteki said sanctions were hurting the majority of Zimbabweans, not targeted individuals.
“The sanctions are hurting the Zimbabwean generality as much as they appear as targeted sanctions, but they impact negatively on the economy of the country,” he said. “So, I would like to continuously lobby America to unconditionally remove these sanctions.
“We need to be viewed as a country with a future, a country with potential, and free our people from adverse poverty. The situation bedevilling the country is not healthy due to the negative impact of the sanctions. America should engage us as a country and not on an individual capacity.”
Political commentator Dr Nyasha Mapuwei said the inclusion of Minister Ncube on the sanctions list was an attempt to scuttle President Mnangagwa’s engagement and re-engagement exercise with the rest of the world.
“President Mnangagwa is on an offensive drive of engagement and re-engagement with all countries of the world towards returning Zimbabwe to its rightful place within the community of nations, but the USA wants to show the big brother attitude. The engagement and re-engagement should not be taken as a weakness,” he said.
“It is uncalled for (to sanction Minister Ncube). We want equal footing. Zimbabwe is a sovereign state which needs to be respected.” Herald Reporter
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) last week gazetted Cde Hlalani Mguni (Zanu-PF) and Vincent Tsvangirai (MDC-Alliance) as duly elected members of the National Assembly for Mangwe and Glen View South constituencies respectively.
ZEC acting chief elections officer Mr Utoile Silaigwana gazetted the duo’s victories in last week’s Government Gazette in terms of Section 68 of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13).
“It is hereby notified, in terms of Section 68 of the Electoral Act Chapter 2:13, that Hlalani Mguni and Vincent Tsvangirai, with effect from the 7th of September 2019, were duly elected as members of the National Assembly constituencies,” said Mr Silaigwana.
Cde Mguni won the Mangwe by-election seat after it fell vacant following the death of her husband and liberation war hero Cde Obedingwa Mguni, who succumbed to diabetes in June.
Mr Tsvangirai won the Glen View South by-election, replacing his late sister, Vimbai Tsvangirai-Java, who died from injuries sustained when a vehicle she was travelling in collided head-on with another in Kwekwe in May. The two new MPs have already been sworn-in before Clerk of Parliament Mr Kennedy Chokuda in terms of Section 128 (1) of the Constitution.