Nelson Chamisa Says Zimbabwe Army Won't Block Him If Elected President in Next Election
“I’m not losing sleep over remarks by a government official that the army won’t allow me to become president if I win the presidential election."
WASHINGTON — Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, says he is not losing sleep over reports that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces won’t allow him to become the president of Zimbabwe if he beats President Emmerson Mnangagwa in the forthcoming poll. Chamisa told thousands of people, who attended an MDC Alliance election campaign rally in Beitbridge on Saturday, that he will become the president through the ballot box and not the barrel of the gun. “I’m not losing sleep over remarks by a government official that the army won’t allow me to become president if I win the presidential election,” he said. Chamisa has been attracting large crowds at MDC Alliance rallies nationwide. Deputy finance minister Terrance Mukupe recently told people attending a Zanu PF election campaign meeting that the Zimbabwe Defence Forces did not wrestle power from former president Robert Mugabe to hand it over to what he called an immature politician like Nelson Chamisa. Mukuke is now distancing himself from his own remarks after he was rebuked by the ruling party, which claims that the country will this year hold free, fair and credible elections unlike in the past under the Mugabe regime. Another senior Zanu PF official, Josiah Hungwe, made similar remarks recently. The West imposed targeted sanctions on Mugabe and his inner circle following allegations of election rigging and human rights violations. Meanwhile, a leader of the National War Veterans Association Victor Matematanda says Mugabe should be punished before he dies for Gukurahundi atrocities of the 1980s. Matematanda, who made these remarks while addressing Zanu PF supporters, said Mnangagwa should not be accused of participating in the killing of an estimated 20,000 people in Matabeleland and the Midlands provinces by the North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade. Mugabe deployed the militia claiming that the regions, which were Zapu strongholds, were supporting dissidents that wanted to topple his government.