JOHANNESBURG-Â Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe sent shockwaves through the party he dominated for decades when he posed with the retired general who will take on the ruling Zanu-PF in this year’s election.
Mugabe is photographed broadly grinning in a posed photo standing side by side with brigadier general Ambrose Mutinhiri, the leader of opposition party the National Patriotic Front (NPF), the party hopes to unseat the government in polls expected to be held in August.
Mutinhiri resigned last week in an unexpected announcement and also announced that he would be the presidential candidate of the new party, exposing the deep divisions within the Zanu-Pf.
The photo-op was intended to draw attention, as it featured a top press release issued by the new pro-Mugabe splinter party, was undeniable.
Two days later Zanu-Pf youth league were chanting “down with Mugabe” at a rally, a rare anti- Mugabe outburst from a normally disciplined members of the party that Mugabe led for nearly four decades.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa noticed Mugabe public appearances and statements against him and the party he said, “There is an issue regarding the former president,”
“Currently we see in the media various speculations about his activities… we are not happy with what the media is saying. We don’t know whether it’s correct or not but it is an issue we are examining.”
The photo below
Press statement by NPF President Ambrose Mutinhiri
=>Met President Mugabe on 4 March 2018
=>Says 2 out of 3 Zanu PF members support NPF
=>Party formation started 19 Nov 2017
=>Will challenge Mnangagwa coup in courts
=>Mugabe encouraged NPF to target youth & not oppress them pic.twitter.com/W5iztltZ7J— Povo Zim (@povozim) March 5, 2018
Photo Credit- The Chronicle
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