Contrary to reports that he may be stepping down soon because of his advanced age and Zimbabwe’s deep economic problems, it appears President Robert Mugabe (pictured above) is not leaving the Southern Africa’s topmost office, according to his close ally Didymus Mutasa (pictured below) who was interviewed by the Daily News.
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Mutasa insists that, for now, Mugabe will not be leaving office and said that no discussion
around the veteran leader’s succession would be entertained at the party’s congress in December.
In fact, Mutasa went as far as saying that they wanted to strengthen the 90-year-old leader’s grip on power through criminalizing the discussion of Mugabe’s succession or health in the media. He also added that people who fueled speculation on Mugabe’s health should be punished severely.
“Such news [discussing Mugabe’s succession] will lead us to arrest journalists, vanhu vanonyepa ngavabatwe vachiendeswa kumajeri (‘People who lie must be jailed’) working on the stories,” said Mutasa, whose party enjoys a two thirds majority in Parliament and can therefore pass such draconian legislations.
In the past, Mutasa has made it clear that people who are eyeing the top post are wasting their time, because in the event the President becomes incapacitated, Vice President Joice Mujuru would take over the reins.
Some say that the discussions of Mugabe’s successor are already a taboo not only within their party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, but also throughout the entire country, because citizens supposedly can’t imagine a future without the aged leader.
Read the rest of the interview here.
