Zimbabwe’s ruling party nominates President Mnangagwa, 2018 presidential candidate

Backed by the Zimbabwe ruling ZANU-PF party, President Emmerson Mnangagwa was nominated and declared as the party’s candidate in the 2018 presidential general elections.

Meeting in the country’s capital, Harare, on Friday, the delegates at a congress of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) also approved the expulsion of former President Robert Mugabe’s wife, Grace Mugabe, from the party, according to resolutions read out by Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu-PF’s secretary for legal affairs and the nation’s finance minister.

Accusations that led to Grace Mugabe’s termination from the party, according to the sources, include preaching hatred in the party hence leading to the division of the party members, among others.

At the meeting, during his speech, President Mnangagwa stated that he did not like being praised through songs or anything, as he is a President for all Zimbabweans and doing just exactly that which he has to do.

He however informed that incase people could not help it but sing, he advised they instead sing the Zimbabwe National Anthem or the liberation songs, as that would please him the most.

‘The role you have given me and the office you have inserted me into, can never be partitioned to anyone. The praise song I desire, if you were to sing one, is that of our national anthem and those from the liberation struggle but not for myself, no. If you sing those national songs, then you and me are together,’ stated the President, Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Mr. Mnangagwa further called for unity and discipline in the ZANU-PF party and the whole Zimbabwe at large, so as to have a smooth way leading forward, and for the betterment of the country.

‘My presidency should not be perceived as a rise in the fortune of a tribe, a region or a totem. My presidency is about a united ZANU-PF party, a national party with a national outlook and a peaceful Zimbabwe,’ Mnangagwa said.

‘I stand therefore as the President of a united, non-racial Zimbabwe, itself home to many dialects, tongues, cultures, colors and age groups.’

‘I am a President of women and men, the young and the old, the able-bodied and the physically challenged, the rich and the poor, the well and the sick. I am an emissary of all the veterans and the heroes, dead or alive, who through their blood, sketched the cause and mission which my presidency must promote, must actualize and advance,’ President Emmerson Mnangagwa further said.

The President also commented about the elections due to be held next year, 2018, promising that the whole process will be very transparent, free and fair.

Correspondent: Shamilah Namuddu