{UAH} Zimbabwe: It's Official, Mugabe to Be Life President for Zimbabwe

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Zimbabwe: It's Official, Mugabe to Be Life President for Zimbabwe

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• Governance
• Southern Africa
• Zimbabwe

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Photo: Gado/RNW

Introducing Zimbabwe's presidential candidate, Robert Mugabe (file photo).

By Marcus Mushonga

Masvingo — In an astonishing and startling development, nonagenarian Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was officially endorsed the sole Zanu PF candidate for 2018 watershed election.

Mugabe, who is 92 years will be 94 when the economically troubled southern African nation goes into another election to choose the country's Head of State.

The announcement was made at the Zanu PF national congress held in the country's oldest town of Masvingo, located some 294km south of Harare.

This means that Mugabe will now wrestle for the presidential position with a formidable opposition from arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and his former deputy, Joice Mujuru, who now leads Zimbabwe People First (ZimPF).The announcement also dashed ambition for his deputy president Emmerson Mnangagwa, who was widely tipped to take over the reigns in 2018 when Mugabe retires from politics.

However, Mugabe shocked almost everyone when he declared he would stand again in the 2018 polls as sole Zanu PF candidate before warning party members to respect him as well as the resolution made.

"We came with our problems, which we heard. We also came knowing we had differences. We agreed our differences should end and fighting should stop," said Mugabe

Mugabe has been ruling Zimbabwe from former colonial master Britain since 1980, and there is no sign he would ever want anyone to lead the country till his dies.

In 2014, Mugabe expelled his deputy, Joice Mujuru for allegedly planning to topple him from power, a development which led to Mujuru to form her new opposition party called ZimPF.

Now all war veterans of the liberation struggle have vowed not to support Mugabe, but to align themselves with Mujuru, arguing she stood for future Zimbabwe while Mugabe was accused of representing the past.

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