HARARE (Zimbabwe): Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa urged people to respect his victory in his address to supporters after being sworn in for a second term in office on Monday in a ceremony that a number of regional leaders snubbed.
“The will of the Zimbabwean people has been expressed and must be respected,” Mnangagwa said following the ceremony, which was attended by only three Southern African Development Community (SADC) presidents, including Mozambique’s Filipe Nyusi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Felix Tshisekedi, and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.
The SADC has 16 presidents, but the majority of them sent ministers to Mnangagwa’s inauguration after a disputed election in this Southern African country, Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.
Angolan President Joao Lourenço and Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema both declined to attend, instead sending representatives.
Angola currently chairs the 16-nation regional grouping, while Zambia chairs the SADC Troika, which is responsible for promoting peace and security in the region.
Mnangagwa, of the ruling Zanu PF party, received 52.6 per cent of the vote in general elections held on August 23, which the SADC said were marred by irregularities.
His opponent, Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), came in second place with 44 per cent of the vote.
Zanu PF also won 136 seats in the National Assembly, but the CCC received 73, denying the ruling party a two-thirds majority in the lower house.
The opposition party refused to endorse Mnangagwa’s win, saying the election was rigged in the president’s favour.
The opposition CCC, however, has not filed a petition in court to challenge alleged electoral fraud, claiming that Mnangagwa and his regime have captured the judiciary in the southern African nation.
“Zimbabwe lacks a functional separation of powers. The executive fully controls the judiciary and that has been enabled by a skewed appointment system in terms of which Mnangagwa has stuffed the courts with his sympathizers,” the CCC said in a statement. – BERNAMA-ANADOLU
