HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Former President Robert Mugabe said he would vote for Zimbabwe’s opposition in Monday’s election, turning on one-time allies in the government ahead of the first vote since they ousted him in a de facto coup.
The election will see 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a long-time Mugabe ally, face 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who is vying to become Zimbabwe’s youngest head of state.
Polls, which are unreliable, give former intelligence chief Mnangagwa only a slim lead over Chamisa, making a runoff on September 8 a possibility.
Mugabe, whose 37-year rule came to an end when he was forced to resign in November, told reporters at his mansion in Harare on Sunday that Mnangagwa’s government was unconstitutional and ruled by the gun.
“I hope the choice of voting tomorrow will throw, thrust away the military government and bring us back to constitutionality,” said a frail looking Mugabe, in a rambling off the cuff speech that lasted almost an hour.
“I said I can’t vote for those who have caused me to be in this situation &#8230; so there is Chamisa left.”
Mugabe, one of the last “Big Men” of African politics, still looms large over Zimbabwean politics and he may yet influence the first vote without his name on the ballot paper since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Though he became increasingly unpopular with most Zimbabweans as mismanagement and corruption sent the economy into decline, he retains support in his rural heartland where supporters remain bitter about the manner of his removal.
Mnangagwa, known as “the crocodile”, an animal famed in Zimbabwean lore for its stealth and ruthlessness, was removed as vice president by Mugabe last November to make way for his wife, Grace, to seize power, analysts say.
This was too much for army generals who rolled military vehicles through the streets of Harare and kept Mugabe under house arrest until he resigned facing imminent impeachment.
VIOLENCE FEARS 
Mugabe on Sunday said it was “total nonsense” that he wanted his wife to succeed him and claimed that he was preparing to resign at a ZANU-PF congress in December.
Such is the draw Mugabe retains even seven months after stepping aside, he became the focus of questions at a parallel press conference held by Chamisa.
“Mr. Mugabe’s wishes are his wishes. I am going to accept any voter with open hands. The more the merrier,” Chamisa said in response to a question about Mugabe’s endorsement.
Elections under Mugabe were often undermined by violence, rigging and voter intimidation.
Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has already cast doubt on the election process, accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of bias.
There have been reports of intimidation and coercion, and state media is biased towards the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). But there is consensus that the process has been better than before.
Mnangagwa has welcomed in foreign media and international observers from the EU, United States and the Commonwealth, while opposition parties have been freely allowed to campaign.
If Chamisa disputes the result or no one candidate gets more than 50 percent and there is a runoff, there are fears of street protests and possible violence.
Dozens of people were killed in the lead up to a runoff in 2008 between Mugabe and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who died in February. Tsvangirai pulled out of the contest before the vote in an effort to end the bloodshed.
“A run-off election is becoming more probable, which also increases the risk of violence as it has in previous election cycles,” said Robert Besseling, analyst at EXX Africa.
“Although an outbreak of widespread violence as in 2008 is not expected &#8230; incidents of localised violence are increasing in frequency and intensity.”
Reporting by Macdonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Joe Brock; editing by Mark Heinrich, William Maclean

Why Zimbabwe’s Mugabe is endorsing Chamisa

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The death of MDC founder and leader, Morgan Tsvangirai has been described as an enormous blow to the opposition in Zimbabwe, this just a few months before the first vote of the post-Mugabe era. Joining CNBC Africa for more is Kelvin Jakachira, Journalist, ZIFM Stereo.

What Morgan Tsvangirai’s death means for the MDC

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa led tributes to late opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday, describing the long-time rival of recently ousted president Robert Mugabe as a dedicated defender of democracy.
<div id="attachment_42372" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42372" class="wp-image-42372 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/morgan_tsvangirai.jpg" alt="Analysts react to anti-Mugabe demonstration" width="800" height="490" />Photo: Wikimedia.</div>
Arguably Zimbabwe’s most popular politician, Tsvangirai died on Wednesday evening aged 65 after a long battle with cancer.
His death in a South African hospital cast his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) into unknown territory less than six months before elections, the first in Zimbabwe not to feature 93-year-old Mugabe.
Tsvangirai will receive a state funeral, but will not be buried at the National Heroes’ Acre, largely reserved for ruling Patriotic Front guerrillas killed during the independence war, Mnangagwa said.
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“He remained a national figure who obdurately insisted on free, fair, credible and non-violent elections as a way of strengthening our democracy,” Mnangagwa, who replaced Mugabe in November after he was forced to stand down by the military, said in a statement.
In political terms, the ruling ZANU-PF party and Mnangagwa, who paid a personal visit to Tsvangirai in January, stand to gain from the opposition leader’s death, due to fighting within the MDC over who should succeed its founding father.
The party’s National Council announced that its vice president, Nelson Chamisa, was taking the role of acting president following Tsvangirai’s death.
The MDC described Tsvangirai as a hero who had “left his footprints on the sands of history”, in large part through his tussles &#8211; both literal and figurative &#8211; with Mugabe.
Tsvangirai suffered repeated abuse and harassment from Zimbabwe’s security and intelligence services, including a 2007 beating in police custody that left him with a badly swollen face and a deep gash in his head.
Scores of his supporters were beaten and killed during campaigning for a 2008 election that eventually resulted in four-year unity government with Tsvangirai serving as prime minister to Mugabe’s president.
The tense relationship between the two was tempered by moments of respect and humour, and the pair once joked about Tsvangirai fearing Mugabe would try to poison him when they started their custom of taking afternoon tea together every Monday.
In central Harare, crowds of people wearing bright red MDC t-shirts gathered outside the party headquarters. Many wept with grief.
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Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Robin Pomeroy
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Zimbabwe’s president leads tributes to opposition leader Tsvangirai

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai died on Wednesday after a long battle with cancer, casting his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party into the unknown less than three months after the army ousted long-time ruler Robert Mugabe.
Tsvangirai, who died in South Africa, was 65.
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“I can confirm that he died this evening. The family communicated this to me,” MDC vice-president Elias Mudzuri told Reuters.
Arguably Zimbabwe’s most popular politician, the mining union leader’s career was ultimately defined by his tussles &#8211; both literal and figurative &#8211; with 93-year-old Mugabe, who resigned after a de facto coup in December.
Elections are due within the next six months and Tsvangirai’s illness and now death leaves his party in disarray, to the advantage of the ruling ZANU-PF party, now led by former Mugabe deputy Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Although Tsvangirai suffered serious physical abuse at the hands of security forces, including serious head injuries in police custody in 2007, he went on to form an uneasy working relationship with Mugabe in a 2009-2013 coalition government.
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Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley/James Macharia/Andrew Heavens
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Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai dies in South Africa

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is critically ill in a South African hospital and his supporters should “brace for the worst”, a party source with knowledge of his condition said on Tuesday.
<div id="attachment_42372" style="width: 810px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-42372" class="wp-image-42372 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/morgan_tsvangirai.jpg" alt="Analysts react to anti-Mugabe demonstration" width="800" height="490" />Photo: Wikimedia.</div>
Without its founder at the helm, Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is likely to face immediate instability and could even split, handing a gift to new President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an election expected in the next six months.
Mnangagwa came to power in November after a de facto military coup against 93-year-old Robert Mugabe, the former guerrilla leader who had run Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.
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Tsvangirai, 65, has been in and out of hospital since disclosing in June 2016 that he had colon cancer. He returned to Johannesburg in neighbouring South Africa for his latest round of treatment in early January.
“From the medical report that I received yesterday the situation is not looking good. He is critically ill and we should brace for the worst,” the source in Tsvangirai’s MDC said.
Tsvangirai’s Twitter feed contested the report, saying the former union leader who emerged two decades ago as Mugabe’s principal political challenger was “shocked” to read of his deteriorating condition.
“Of course I have cancer and not feeling too well but I am stable and the process is under control. I have been frequently on Twitter of late, I am recovering,” the feed said.
Tsvangirai spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka said the MDC leader was “stable but the nation should keep on praying”.
Tsvangirai’s illness has exposed deep rifts in the MDC, with his subordinates jockeying publicly to succeed him. Last month, Tsvangirai said it was time for the older generation to step back and make way for “new hands”.
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Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Ed Cropley and Catherine Evans
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Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai critically ill in South Africa -party source

Zimbabwe will hold elections in four to five months, a newspaper on Thursday quoted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying, the first time since independence the southern African state will conduct a vote that does not involve former ruler Robert Mugabe.
<div id="attachment_291761" style="width: 860px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-291761" class="wp-image-291761 size-full" src="http://cnbc.africa/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Zim_Emmerson-Mnangagwa_GettyImages_RZ1.png" alt="" width="850" height="605" />Zimbabwe President, Emmerson Mnangagwa: Getty Image</div>
Mnangagwa, who took over after Mugabe was forced to resign in November following a defacto military coup, was speaking during an official trip to Mozambique, the official Herald newspaper reported.
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The international community will be closely watching the vote, which is seen as a litmus test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and is key to unlocking badly needed financial assistance and repairing relations with Western powers and international financial institutions.
“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace because we know it is good for us and we have no doubt that we will have peaceful elections,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying.
“We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state.”
Under the constitution, Zimbabwe should hold elections between July 22 and August 22 but parliament can elect to dissolve itself, triggering an early vote. The ruling ZANU-PF holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.
Since 2000, elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by political violence and disputes, which led to the country becoming an international pariah under Mugabe’s 37-year rule.
The next vote will pit Mnangagwa against the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change, whose leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is suffering cancer, a development that has weakened and divided his party.
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Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Nick Macfie
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Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa says to hold elections in four to five months

By MacDonald Dzirutwe
HARARE, Jan 9 (Reuters) &#8211; If Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai were to stand down &#8211; as he has hinted &#8211; the party he founded would face immediate instability and could even split, handing a gift to new President Emmerson Mnangagwa in an election this year.
The most visible opposition figure in the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980, Tsvangirai said on Monday it was time for the older generation to make way for younger leaders in the party.
Mnangagwa, 75, rose to power last November after Robert Mugabe stood down following a de facto coup, ending a 37-year reign marked by economic mismanagement, corruption and vote rigging allegations.
Investors and Western governments who cheered the end of Mugabe’s rule will be closely watching the election for evidence Mnangagwa can run a free and fair vote and turn a new page in Zimbabwe’s history.
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<div id="google_ads_iframe_/4735792/africa.reuters.com_2__container__">It was expected that Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) would pose a robust challenge to Mnangagwa’s ruling ZANU-PF.</div>
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But that prospect may now be in jeopardy.
Tsvangirai, who has been battling cancer for several years and looked frail at a meeting with Mnangagwa last week, did not explicitly say he would stand down and his spokesman said he could not comment further.
Tsvangirai, 65, has three deputies, one who was elected and two others he handpicked in 2016 to help him run the party, a move that still irks some MDC members.
The MDC has known division twice before, in 2005 and in 2014 following a heavy election defeat to the ZANU-PF. And, though analysts said it was good in the long term for Tsvangirai to relinquish the MDC leadership after nearly 20 years in charge, the succession had to be handled carefully.
“Behind the scenes, the three party vice presidents are gladiating to take over from Tsvangirai,” said Eldred Masunungure, a political science lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe.
“It should be a democratic process and not an autocratic change of power. If Tsvangirai takes that route it will tear the party asunder. It will be a sad day if Tsvangirai’s departure means the death of the MDC.”
“CRITICAL MOMENT”
The MDC has weakened progressively since 2008, when Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round of voting.
After opting out of the run-off alleging violence by the army against its supporters, the MDC formed a unity government with ZANU-PF that helped stabilise the economy until Tsvangirai was defeated in a 2013 presidential election by Mugabe.
A senior MDC official said Tsvangirai was still considering whether to call for a special leadership congress or have the party appoint a new presidential candidate who he could help campaign ahead of elections.
“The MDC is at a very critical moment and the issue of transitioning to a new leader has been weighing heavily on president Tsvangirai,” the MDC executive told Reuters, asking for anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
Tsvangirai, 65, the self-taught son of a bricklayer who worked in a rural mine to support his family, cut his political teeth in the labour movement as a mine foreman, later becoming a top trade unionist.
In 1999 he was elected founding MDC president and built his political career as a one of the only people willing to stand up to Mugabe, making him difficult to replace.
He will have to juggle regional, tribal and gender considerations in looking for a successor.
“Those are salient issues that the MDC cannot run away from,” said Masunungure. (Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Joe Brock and Richard Balmforth)

Has Zimbabwe’s opposition leader handed President Emmerson Mnangagwa a gift?

HARARE (Reuters) &#8211; Zimbabwe’s President <a href="http://cnbc.africa/videos/2017/11/22/explainer-who-is-emmerson-mnangagwa-zimbabwes-next-president/">Emmerson Mnangagwa</a> has ruled out forming a coalition government after visiting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday.
Zimbabwe is due to hold elections in 2018 in the first big test of Mnangagwa’s legitimacy after he rose to power in November last year following a de facto military coup which saw veteran leader Robert Mugabe reluctantly cede power.
Mnangagwa has previously indicated polls could be held as early as March, and is under pressure from civil society, would-be investors and opposition parties to implement political reforms following Mugabe’s 37-year grip on power.
“Currently there is no need,” Mnangagwa told reporters, referring to the possibility of forming a coalition with Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party and the MDC were partners in a government of national unity for five years until 2013, eventually breaking down as acrimony between the parties re-emerged.
Tsvangirai, who is due to challenge Mnangagwa in national elections, has been receiving treatment for colon cancer since 2016 but says he is in good health.
“He is fine, he is recuperating very well and says he will soon again be having a medical check-up in South Africa,” said Mnangagwa after visiting Tsvangirai at his home.
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Reporting by Alfonce Mbizwo; Writing by Joe Brock; Editing by Richard Balmforth
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Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa rules out coalition government

A Catholic priest is mediating a potential political exit for Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, although the 93-year-old is insisting he can only be removed via a party leadership vote, political and intelligence sources said on Thursday.
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Separately, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has been receiving cancer treatment outside Zimbabwe, returned to Harare late on Wednesday, a party spokesman said, fuelling speculation about a post-Mugabe political settlement.

Zimbabwe priest mediating potential Mugabe exit: sources

Nelson Banya | HARARE
Two of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe&#8217;s chief rivals said on Wednesday they were allying to deny the 93-year-old another term in office.
Morgan Tsvangirai, 65, who was Zimbabwe&#8217;s prime minister in an uneasy coalition government with Mugabe from 2009 until 2013, said he and Joice Mujuru, who was Mugabe&#8217;s vice president for a decade until she was fired in 2014, would seek to form a coalition government to bring political change.
<blockquote>&#8220;This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront ZANU PF between now and the next election in 2018,&#8221; Tsvangirai said, referring to the party led by Africa&#8217;s oldest leader.</blockquote>
Mugabe, one of the last of the generation of African nationalists that sough the overthrow of white colonialists, has run Zimbabwe since 1980. He was first prime minister then, in 1987, became president.
In December his ZANU PF party confirmed him as its candidate for the next presidential election expected in mid-2018, when he will be 94.
Tsvangirai, a three time loser to Mugabe, said he expected similar deals to the one with Mujuru would be struck with other political groups.
Tsvangirai, who lost the 2013 presidential vote against Mugabe, is now leading MDC-T, a faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, that was formed after the party was weakened by splits over how to confront Mugabe.
The MDC, evicted from the unity government after its crushing defeat in the 2013 election, has been split over whether to dump Tsvangirai before the next vote in 2018.
Mujuru, who formed a new National People&#8217;s Party in March last year, said the two parties had worked on the agreement for the last six months and would now start negotiating specific details to strengthen their alliance.
Critics accuse Mugabe of wrecking one of Africa&#8217;s most promising economies through policies such as violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms and money printing. He and his party say the economy has been undermined by western powers.
The turmoil within the opposition has been a boost for Mugabe, whose party has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 amid charges of rigging recent elections. Mugabe has rejected the claims.
The southern African nation&#8217;s economy stagnated last year following a devastating drought while its budget deficit exploded as Mugabe&#8217;s administration struggled to pay its workers, which helped fan anti-government protests.
(Writing by James Macharia Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)

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Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai critically ill in South Africa -party source

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Has Zimbabwe’s opposition leader handed President Emmerson Mnangagwa a gift?

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Morgan Tsvangirai

Why Zimbabwe’s Mugabe is endorsing Chamisa

What Morgan Tsvangirai’s death means for the MDC

Zimbabwe’s president leads tributes to opposition leader Tsvangirai

Zimbabwe opposition leader Tsvangirai dies in South Africa

Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai critically ill in South Africa -party source

Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa says to hold elections in four to five months

Has Zimbabwe’s opposition leader handed President Emmerson Mnangagwa a gift?

Zimbabwe’s President Mnangagwa rules out coalition government

Zimbabwe priest mediating potential Mugabe exit: sources

Zimbabwean opposition leaders ally to challenge Mugabe

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