NEWS - AFRICA
| 2013-07-31I’ll suffer heart failure if I lose - Mugabe
BITTER RIVALS ... Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe will square off in the crunch Zimbabwean elections today.
CAPE TOWN - President Robert Mugabe says he would suffer heart failure if the people of Harare and Bulawayo did not vote for him in the make-or-break elections set to be held tomorrow, a News Day report said on Monday.
Addressing party supporters during his last campaign rally in Harare, Mugabe said: “Are we going to vote? Yes, but how are you going to vote? Harare, Harare, Harare, Bulawayo, Bulawayo, our big cities. Have we forgotten 2008?”
“Have we left behind 2008? I will be shocked. I will have heart failure if I hear Harare votes for MDC, a party with councillors who have caused trouble,” Mugabe said.
The upcoming elections are expected to end a shaky coalition government between Mugabe and his archrival Morgan Tsvangirai formed in 2009 following disputed elections in 2008.
Mugabe also warned Tsvangirai that he would be arrested if he claimed victory before official results were announced. This he said following Tsvangirai’s threats that he would not wait for official results from the electoral authorities.
According to newzimbabwe.com, Tsvangirai told his own Movement for Democratic Change supporters at the weekend that although Zanu-PF was trying to rig the elections, he expected an overwhelming victory and did not have to wait for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Mugabe said said Tsvangirai must follow the law.
“...what shocked me is that he said he was going to announce the results of the elections knowing that the law does not allow it. He says they can arrest me if they want. You want to announce the results you get from your people. That’s madness. I have never heard anyone in Africa saying that. A whole Prime Minister saying he will break the law. Who gave you the job [to announce the results]?” Mugabe queried.
“There is a law and you can’t go against the law. He who does that will be arrested. I can tell you in advance that if you breach the law and you become a lawbreaker, a lawbreaker is arrested and the police will arrest you.”
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s rivals complained Monday they have not yet received a copy of the electoral roll, just two days before Zimbabweans go to the polls today.
Amid suspicions the list of voters is being doctored to ensure a victory for Mugabe today, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said his Movement for Democratic Change would take legal action to obtain a copy.
“With virtually a day to go to the election, no political party in Zimbabwe other than Zanu-PF perhaps has got a copy of the final voters roll,” he told reporters.
“Our lawyers are in the process of filing a court application to actually obtain a copy of that voters roll,” said Biti.
In June, an NGO called Research and Advocacy Unit focusing on Zimbabwe politics, reported the existing voter list included around one million dead voters or people who have moved abroad, as well as over 100 000 people aged over 100 years old.
The MDC has alleged these “ghost voters” tend to back Mugabe.
Biti said the MDC, which seeks to end Mugabe’s 33-year rule, has neither received a full list of polling centres nor a count of the number of ballot papers printed for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
“We have asked for a final list of the polling stations and ZEC again has not provided us with the final list of the polling stations,” he said.
Biti also said the arrest of Morgan Komichi, the senior election organiser of Tsvangirai, at this election was meant to harass and cripple their campaign.
“By arresting Morgan Komichi you are in fact crippling the operations [of] our presidential campaign,” he said.
Biti warned that if the electoral commission announces fraudulent results, the MDC is ready to announce its own tally. - Nampa-AFP
“Have we left behind 2008? I will be shocked. I will have heart failure if I hear Harare votes for MDC, a party with councillors who have caused trouble,” Mugabe said.
The upcoming elections are expected to end a shaky coalition government between Mugabe and his archrival Morgan Tsvangirai formed in 2009 following disputed elections in 2008.
Mugabe also warned Tsvangirai that he would be arrested if he claimed victory before official results were announced. This he said following Tsvangirai’s threats that he would not wait for official results from the electoral authorities.
According to newzimbabwe.com, Tsvangirai told his own Movement for Democratic Change supporters at the weekend that although Zanu-PF was trying to rig the elections, he expected an overwhelming victory and did not have to wait for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
Mugabe said said Tsvangirai must follow the law.
“...what shocked me is that he said he was going to announce the results of the elections knowing that the law does not allow it. He says they can arrest me if they want. You want to announce the results you get from your people. That’s madness. I have never heard anyone in Africa saying that. A whole Prime Minister saying he will break the law. Who gave you the job [to announce the results]?” Mugabe queried.
“There is a law and you can’t go against the law. He who does that will be arrested. I can tell you in advance that if you breach the law and you become a lawbreaker, a lawbreaker is arrested and the police will arrest you.”
Meanwhile, Mugabe’s rivals complained Monday they have not yet received a copy of the electoral roll, just two days before Zimbabweans go to the polls today.
Amid suspicions the list of voters is being doctored to ensure a victory for Mugabe today, Finance Minister Tendai Biti said his Movement for Democratic Change would take legal action to obtain a copy.
“With virtually a day to go to the election, no political party in Zimbabwe other than Zanu-PF perhaps has got a copy of the final voters roll,” he told reporters.
“Our lawyers are in the process of filing a court application to actually obtain a copy of that voters roll,” said Biti.
In June, an NGO called Research and Advocacy Unit focusing on Zimbabwe politics, reported the existing voter list included around one million dead voters or people who have moved abroad, as well as over 100 000 people aged over 100 years old.
The MDC has alleged these “ghost voters” tend to back Mugabe.
Biti said the MDC, which seeks to end Mugabe’s 33-year rule, has neither received a full list of polling centres nor a count of the number of ballot papers printed for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
“We have asked for a final list of the polling stations and ZEC again has not provided us with the final list of the polling stations,” he said.
Biti also said the arrest of Morgan Komichi, the senior election organiser of Tsvangirai, at this election was meant to harass and cripple their campaign.
“By arresting Morgan Komichi you are in fact crippling the operations [of] our presidential campaign,” he said.
Biti warned that if the electoral commission announces fraudulent results, the MDC is ready to announce its own tally. - Nampa-AFP
