Zimbabwe’s president tells supporters they may go to heaven in the event that they vote for his social gathering this month

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s president urged hundreds of his supporters at a rally on Wednesday to ship a “thunderous victory” on this month’s nationwide election and proclaimed that “no one will stop us from ruling this country.”

President Emmerson Mnangagwa stated that individuals who vote for his ruling ZANU-PF social gathering – which has been in energy for 43 years – would go to heaven.

Mnangwagwa, the 80-year-old chief who assumed energy within the southern African nation in a coup in 2017, additionally warned his supporters towards partaking in violence within the buildup to the Aug. 23 vote. That plea got here days after an opposition social gathering supporter was killed, allegedly by the hands of ruling social gathering activists, within the first lethal violence of the election buildup.

“Perpetrators of violence will be brought to book without fear or favor. So, I say to you don’t ever perpetrate violence, we will deal with you,” Mnangagwa stated.

But whereas Mnangagwa has typically referred to as on his supporters to behave peacefully, it hasn’t spared the chief and his administration from criticism by worldwide rights teams, together with Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

They say that it doesn’t matter what the president says, there was a brutal crackdown on any opposition in Zimbabwe, and Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF are utilizing establishments just like the police and the courts to arrest critics, ban opposition rallies and stifle any problem to their rule. Main opposition chief Nelson Chamisa stated in an interview with The Associated Press final week that Zimbabweans typically face the specter of lethal violence in the event that they don’t help the ruling social gathering.

ZANU-PF has been Zimbabwe’s ruling social gathering ever since independence from white minority rule in 1980. Supporters at Wednesday’s rally acquired presents of loaves of bread in plastic wrapping with Mnangagwa’s face on them.

“We will forever march forward,” Mnangagwa stated on the rally within the capital, Harare. “No one will stop us from ruling this country. We are the only party that brought independence and freedom to a colonized people of this country. We kicked out imperialism.”

“So you will be lost if you don’t vote for ZANU-PF – you would have betrayed our freedom fighters. We need a thunderous victory to consolidate our hard-won independence,” he added.

Zimbabwe has a historical past of violent elections and though Mnangagwa instructed his supporters to behave peacefully, he additionally blamed Zimbabwe’s insecurity on “negative forces” outdoors the nation, repeating the form of rhetoric that former President Robert Mugabe used guilty the nation’s woes on others, most notably Western nations.

Zimbabwe is below U.S. and European Union sanctions and has typically been shunned by the West for 20 years due to human rights abuses below the autocratic Mugabe, who died in 2019.

Mnangagwa changed then ZANU-PF chief Mugabe in a coup in 2017 and received a detailed and disputed presidential election towards Chamisa in 2018. Chamisa will problem Mnangagwa once more for the presidency on this month’s election and has already made allegations of election manipulation.

Mnangagwa promised a brand new period of freedom and democracy after changing Mugabe, but his critics say that hasn’t occurred and that he’s as repressive as his predecessor. Zimbabwe’s economic system, which collapsed amid file ranges of hyperinflation resulting in the nation abandoning its forex in 2009, has hardly improved, though there are indicators that Zimbabwe’s once-strong agricultural sector is rebounding.

Mugabe’s removing additionally raised hopes that the nation’s relationship with the West could be revived. But Mnangagwa has as an alternative strengthened ties with China and Russia, and hosted Iran’s president for a state go to final month, when Mnangagwa spoke of solidarity and stated each have been “victims” of Western sanctions.

Zimbabwe’s wealthy mineral assets, which embody gold, diamonds, platinum and enormous newly-found deposits of lithium, have additionally led to elevated Chinese curiosity. A Chinese firm opened a large lithium processing plant in Zimbabwe final month with Mnangagwa in attendance.

Wearing his now trademark scarf with the pink, white, inexperienced and yellow colours of the Zimbabwean flag, Mnangagwa stated he had succeeded in rebuilding elements of the economic system with the assistance of China.

Zimbabwe has constructed roads, dams and agricultural and industrial infrastructure, and used a $1.5 billion mortgage from China to broaden a serious electrical energy plant, Mnangagwa stated. He stated the cash was from “my friend Xi Jinping” – the Chinese chief. Mnangagwa referred to as persevering with Western sanctions on his nation unfair.

“Zimbabwe is a friend to all and an enemy to none,” Mnangagwa stated. “We are engaging with those who want to engage with us on the basis of mutual respect. We are a sovereign state and partners are welcome to assist us based on our own priorities.”