Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, says he will not allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to steal the polls again.
He told his supporters at a rally at Freedom Square in the capital, Harare, on Monday August 21 that he will not allow a repeat of 2018.
Chamisa lost that election to Mnangagwa, but he believes the Zanu-PF leader stole the poll with the help of the ZEC, a charge the ruling party denies.
Instead, the party claims it’s popular with the electorate.
“There is not going to be a repeat of 2018,” Chamisa told Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) supporters in yellow T-shirts and regalia. “God has remembered Zimbabwe. God’s plan never fails.”
It’s a message he has been repeating to supporters in the past few days.
On Sunday Chamisa told supporters in Bulawayo that he had meetings with an election observer mission of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and alerted them to what he said was a ploy by Mnangagwa to steal the election.
“I told them that Mnangagwa is not preparing to win, he is plotting to rig,” said Chamisa.
“I told Sadc that he stole the election in 2018, but this time I will not allow him to steal it again. I told them Zimbabwe is the next Sadc chair and they should get ready to welcome me.”
He did not say how he planned to stop Zanu-PF or Mnangagwa.
Politics is not a restaurant where one can come and eat
— Nelson Chamisa
Chamisa’s CCC is still to get a copy of an auditable voters roll, a day before the poll, and alleges voter intimidation by a shadowy group called Forever Associates Zimbabwe linked to Zimbabwe’s dreaded spy agency, the Central Intelligence Organisation.
The opposition leader also attacked politicians who joined politics to profiteer.
“Politics is not a restaurant where one can come and eat,” he said.
Chamisa promised to end poverty in Zimbabwe and usher in an era of prosperity. The country is in the grip of an economic crisis characterised by hyperinflation, 90% unemployment and a depreciating currency.
He has pledged to create 2.5-million jobs. In a packed White City Stadium rally in Bulawayo, Chamisa said he would not accept a Mnangagwa victory, a declaration that courted government ire amid accusations that he was attempting to whip up emotions ahead of the vote on Wednesday August 23.
Permanent secretary in the ministry of information Nick Mangwana slammed Chamisa’s “dangerous posturing” and called for “responsible” speech. George Charamba, former deputy chief secretary for presidential communications, tweeted that “indiscipline” will not be tolerated. In 2018, election result delays led to protests, resulting in the death of six people when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.
Though Chamisa’s campaign got off to a rocky start, he said he had covered about 2,500km on the trail and done 75 rallies.
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