I’ll be sworn-in as president on Saturday: Chamisa

By Blessings Mashaya

Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, told a rally on Saturday he would hold an assembly that would swear him in as president this week, just two weeks after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated for a first, five-year term.

This comes hot on the heels of a Constitutional Court (Con-Court) ruling on August 24 that Chamisa’s opposition (MDC) Alliance had no case, with Zanu PF frontman Emmerson Mnangagwa being sworn in on August 26, as president.

Chamisa told MDC supporters in Chitungwiza that he is going to name his Cabinet in the coming few days.

The youthful politician’s symbolic challenge could lead to fresh confrontations in Zimbabwe. Chamisa risks jail for treason if he takes the presidential oath.

“We are going to hold our 19th anniversary next week (this week) Saturday and the leadership of the party said during that event the people’s president is going to be sworn-in by the people who voted him,” Chamisa said.

“When I am sworn-in, I will take my own way and Mnangagwa will take his and we will see who the real leader is.

“I told Mnangagwa let us meet and resolve the issue. He refused saying he won the election but I am going to make life difficult for him.

“There is no stability out of rigged elections. There is no economic stability out of a rigged election the world over it never happens.

“If you say you are ready, as your leaders we are ready to lead. Legal route does not declare Mnangagwa a winner.”

Chamisa seem to be following the script of Kenya’s opposition leader Raila Odinga who defied authorities to go ahead with a ceremony to swear him in as “president of the people”.

He said “in the next few days we are going to form an alternative government.”

“We are not going to have a shadow cabinet because we are not the opposition, we will have an alternative Cabinet not a shadow Cabinet. It is an alternative Cabinet because we won the election,” he said.

The youthful opposition leader said his Cabinet is going to have few ministers.

“Our Cabinet is going to be lean, we don’t want deputy ministers, they are useless, these are jobs for the boys and girls.

“We don’t need to have deputy ministers because they cannot act as ministers. We are not going to appoint corrupt people; we are going to appoint 15 cabinet ministers only.

“We want to prepare ourselves because we won the elections. This issue is not going to end until the real results are declared. I tell you this is not going to end.
They stole children’s jiggies (children’s snacks),” Chamisa said speaking in vernacular.

This comes as political analysts last week said the determined bids by Chamisa and some Zanu PF bigwigs to bring down Mnangagwa were now effectively dead in the water — after former president Robert Mugabe and veteran opposition kingpin Eddie Cross put paid to these quests.

Addressing mourners at his Blue Roof mansion in Harare, following the recent death of his wife Grace’s mother — Idah Marufu — Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to wholly embrace Mnangagwa as the country’s undisputed new leader.

“There was an election. Zanu PF was represented by Emmerson Mnangagwa and (Nelson) Chamisa represented MDC Alliance and results came out saying the person who won was Emmerson Mnangagwa, and I said zvava mugwara zvino (everything is now in order).

“We have accepted the result and we hope that we will continue respecting the will of the people.

“The gun does not and should not lead politics,” he said — sealing Mnangagwa’s leadership of the country.

Until his successor’s inauguration last month, Mugabe had done all in his power to derail Mnangagwa and the ruling Zanu PF, including urging Zimbabweans to vote for Chamisa in last month’s hotly-disputed presidential poll.

Speaking at the same memorial service on Thursday, Grace — who had been in Singapore receiving treatment when her mother died, prompting Mnangagwa to scramble for funds to charter a plane to bring her home for the burial — also praised the new Zanu PF leader for showing “love” towards the former first family.

“VaMnangagwa comforted me. If it takes my mother’s death for us to restore our old friendship, then let it be.

“VaMnangagwa loves us. He knows we love him too. We pray for him because it is God’s will that he is president of the country,” she said.

Theresa May’s comments in South Africa that (Emmerson) Mnangagwa was elected as president and then with German’s minister of Development Cooperation announcing that their government was again open for business with Zimbabwe, sealed the issue, Cross said.

“Thirdly, the new president, for the first time, is asking the whole country for help to secure the future and he has extended the hand of reconciliation to the opposition.

“I am deeply disappointed that the MDC Alliance seems to have turned its back on these initiatives and instead have continued to make the assertion that this was a ‘stolen’ election and that Chamisa is the legitimate president.

“Not only is this futile, but it also threatens further violence and instability when what we really need is national unity and an agreement to put our differences aside in a concerted effort to deal with the tough issues that confront us in the next five years,” Cross added. Daily News