Tsvangirai, Mujuru form anti-Mugabe opposition alliance

Harare, Thursday

Zimbabwe’s best known opposition figures have agreed to form an alliance against President Robert Mugabe.

Long-time Mugabe critic Morgan Tsvangirai and former Vice-President Joice Mujuru say they will work together in next year’s election.

However, it is not yet clear which of them will be the presidential candidate.

Mugabe, 93, has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980 and has said he will seek re-election.

“This is just the beginning of the building blocks towards establishing a broad alliance to confront Zanu-PF between now and the next election,” Tsvangirai told journalists.

Mugabe has previously said he would not be losing any sleep over the proposed coalition.

Tsvangirai has run against Mugabe several times since he helped found the Movement for Democratic Change in 2000.

Each time he has said he was denied victory because of violence and rigging—charges denied by Mugabe and his allies.

In the March 2008 elections, it seemed he was on the verge of finally unseating Mugabe.

He gained the most votes but, according to official results, not enough to win outright. Before the second round was held in June, his supporters were targeted in a campaign of violence and he pulled out.

Economy collapse

After months of tortuous negotiations while the economy collapsed, he was finally sworn in as prime minister of a power-sharing government, in February 2009 until 2013, with Mugabe remaining president.

Mujuru was vice-president to Mugabe for 10 years until she was fired in 2014.

Previously she served as a government minister since independence in 1980. She also served as Vice-President of ZANU-PF and was long considered a potential successor to Mugabe, but in 2014 she was denounced for allegedly plotting against him.

She went on to set up the National People’s Party.                 - BBC

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