Zimbabwe’s new president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, drew a firm line under the 37-year reign of Robert Mugabe in a keynote speech to the ruling ZANU-PF party yesterday.
Mnangagwa took office last month after Mugabe was forced to quit when the military took power and ZANU-PF lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against their veteran leader.
Until recently, the new president was one of Mugabe’s closest allies and critics say he is another authoritarian hardliner.
But Mnangagwa used his much-awaited speech to an extraordinary congress of the ZANU-PF to declare the party had been defiled, and was now on a “new trajectory”.
“The party ideology, rules and regulations were being desecrated daily,” Mnangagwa, 75, told the one-day gathering in Harare.
“Clearly this was no longer the ZANU-PF you and I pledged loyalty to. We must never lower our guard again.”
Mugabe’s final years in power were marked by a bitter inter-party succession battle between Mnangagwa, who was covertly backed by the military, and supporters of Mugabe’s wife Grace.
Mnangagwa has appointed military officials to key government positions, and pledged to revive the shattered economy by boosting farm production and luring foreign investment.
“Party work must not be in the old mould. Now we must be about politics and economics,” he said, wearing a jacket decorated in party colours and images of himself.
“We must embrace each other and other nations. This congress must define a new trajectory for the party.”
The conference was also to confirm Mnangagwa as the party’s presidential candidate in next year’s general elections.
Lawyer and opposition politician David Coltart said the meeting was “to consolidate President Mnangagwa’s position within the party and to ensure that (Grace’s supporters) are put firmly in their place.”
“Many people see this administration as a thin veneer over a military junta and the question is whether the veneer is going to get thinner,” he added.
Mnangagwa is referred to as The Crocodile for his ruthlessness, while Grace’s younger supporters were known as the “G40” (Generation-40) group.
“The congress signifies his triumph over G40,” Takavafira Zhou, a political scientist at Masvingo State University, told AFP.
“It’s a show of force, and we will also see more people with a military background within the ZANU-PF structures.”
Mnangagwa has been keen to avoid any public sign of friction within Zimbabwe’s ruling elite, and he paid tribute both to Mugabe, 93, and the army chief who forced him out.
“I would like to salute the commander of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces General Constantino Chiwenga for standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow Zimbabweans,” Mnangagwa said.
He also paid homage to “party comrade Robert Mugabe, who steered the ship of our party and its government.”
Zimbabwe’s former president Robert Mugabe, who was ousted from power last month, visited a Singapore hospital yesterday during a trip to the city-state for a medical check-up.
It was the first time he has been seen in public since he was forced to resign after a military takeover brought a sudden end to his authoritarian 37-year reign.
The 93-year-old was seen leaving a lift in Gleneagles Hospital in downtown Singapore around midday (0400 GMT), wearing a white shirt and black trousers, and accompanied by eight people, AFP journalists said.
He walked quickly out of the building before he and his party were driven off in two cars. Two hospital employees, speaking anonymously as they were not authorised to talk to the media, confirmed to AFP that Mugabe had visited.
A spokeswoman for Gleneagles declined to comment, citing patient confidentiality.
His ex-spokesman, George Charamba, said on Thursday that Mugabe was visiting Singapore for a medical check-up as “part of his package as a retired president to travel overseas”, adding the new government was keen to show him respect.
Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe from independence in 1980, is accused of brutal repression and bringing the country to economic ruin.
He has been in increasingly frail health and has reportedly battled prostate cancer. In recent years he has made several trips to Singapore, a popular medical tourism destination, for undisclosed medical reasons.
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa speaks during the opening of the extraordinary conference of the ZANU-PF party.
