Zimbabwe has no election date yet, says Mnangagwa

Comment & Analysis
DEFENCE minister Emmerson Mnangagwa has told Angolan media that the date for Zimbabwe’s next election is still unknown despite Zanu PF’s insistence that polls would be held this year.

Mnangagwa, who reportedly leads a major faction that is eyeing President Robert Mugabe’s post after his departure, was speaking in Luanda where he went to deliver a message from the veteran ruler to that country’s President Eduardo dos Santos on Friday.

Retired army general Solomon Mujuru is said to be leading the other Zanu PF faction and indications are that the groups are not united on the timing of the elections. South African President Jacob Zuma, who was appointed by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to facilitate between Zimbabwe’s three governing parties, wants an election either next year or in 2013.

Mnangagwa met the Angolan vice- president Fernando da Pieda de Dias dos Santos, the state, owned Angola Press reported yesterday. He reportedly described the political situation in the country as stable following the formation of a unity government in 2009.

The minister said the new constitution would be submitted to a “referendum to pave the way for general elections in an environment of harmony.”—Our Staff