Emmerson Mnangagwa
According to a report by The Independent, Zimbabwe‘s president has
escaped unhurt after an explosion at a campaign rally that state media
described as an assassination attempt.
Emmerson Mnangagwa declared that the “cowardly act”, which injured
his two vice presidents, would not disrupt the country’s historic first
elections since Robert Mugabe was deposed by a military coup.
Dramatic TV footage showed the smiling president waving to a crowd
at a stadium in Bulawayo before walking off stage and into a crowded
tent which seconds later was rocked by the blast.
People screamed and ran for cover amid a cloud of smoke as the
president was whisked away to a nearby government building in Zimbabwe’s
second largest city, a traditional opposition stronghold.
The explosion went off a “few inches away from me, but it is not my
time,” Mr Mnangagwa told state broadcaster ZBC. The president, who has
joked openly about multiple attempts on his life in the past, said he
was now used to evading assassination.
At least eight people were injured by Saturday’s blast, the
state-run Herald newspaper reported. Vice-president Kembo Mohadi
suffered leg injuries, while Constantino Chiwenga, a second
vice-president and the former military commander, was left with facial
bruising.
Most of the wounded were discharged from hospital after treatment, presidential spokesman George Charamba told the newspaper.
The explosion came only a few hours after a grenade was thrown at a
huge rally by Ethiopia’s new prime minister Abiy Ahmed, killing one
person.
There was was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast in
Bulawayo, where Mr Mnangagwa was holding his first rally in a city that
Zanu-PF has not won in national elections since 2000.
Authorities gave no details of what had caused the explosion but
footage appeared to show a projectile in the air moments before the
blast.
The blast was captured on state TV as the president left the stage ( 263chat/screengrab )
The run-up to the 30 July vote had been relatively peaceful, unlike
previous elections which were marred by violence, mostly by Zanu-PF
supporters against the opposition.
“The campaign so far has been conducted in a free and peaceful
environment, and we will not allow this cowardly act to get in our way
as we move towards elections,” Mr Mnangagwa said. “Its just an element
of defeatists in the struggle of freedom. The country is peaceful.”
He said his environment minister and the deputy speaker of
parliament were also injured in the blast, as well as vice president
Chiwenga’s wife. Security guards were also hurt, The Herald reported.
Mr Mnangagwa’s rise to the presidency was fiercely resisted by
Mugabe loyalists, including his wife Grace. The former president said he
felt betrayed by Mr Mnangagwa, who lived in the shadows of his
predecessor for nearly 50 years.
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, the president’s main challenger
in next month’s election, expressed sympathy for the victims of the
blast and declared no stone should be left unturned in the police
investigation.
“Political violence of any nature from any quarter is totally
unacceptable,” said the Movement for Democratic Change leader. ”In the
past 38 years political violence has been a permanent feature and an
anticipated ritual…which we must expunge.”
Mr Mnangagwa said he was “used to these attempts” on his life,
noting that he had been poisoned at a rally outside Bulawayo last August
when still Mr Mugabe’s vice president. He spent weeks receiving medical
treatment in neighbouring South Africa.
Twenty-three candidates have registered to contest the election and Mr Mnangagwa has promised a free and fair vote.
International observers are in the country for the first time since
2002 and, if they endorse the conduct of the ballot, could help
Zimbabwe secure funding from international institutions for the first
time in two decades.
The two main candidates are campaigning on a pledge to revive an
economy crippled by a legacy of often violent seizures of land from
white commercial farmers and a black economic empowerment drive that
targeted foreign-owned businesses.
Those policies were cornerstones of Mr Mugabe’s near four-decade
rule, and Mr Chamisa argues the current president is equally to blame
for the the country’s economic woes after served in each of every
governments since Zimbabwean independence in 1980.
Zanu-PF argues Zimbabwe is at a critical stage of its transition and needs an experienced hand like Mr Mnangagwa at the tiller.