South African President Jacob Zuma on Sunday congratulated President Robert Mugabe for winning a general election that has been criticised as unfair by the United States and Britain, and called on all the country’s political parties to accept the results. “President Jacob Zuma extends his profound congratulations to His Excellency President Robert G Mugabe on his reelection as President of the Republic of Zimbabwe following the successful harmonised elections held on 31 July 2013,” Mr Zuma said in a statement. Jacob Zuma “President Zuma urges all political parties in Zimbabwe to accept the outcome of the elections as election observers reported it to be an expression of the will of the people.” Mr Zuma oversaw the process known as was Global Political Agreement (GPA) that aimed to maintain political harmony between Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai who had challenged for the presidency and clearly expected to win. Amid cries of foul from the MDC-T and calls for a campaign of peaceful resistance, the South African president said that Zimbabweans must now unite for the good of the nation. “President Zuma also encourages the people of Zimbabwe to seize this opportunity to collectively contribute towards building their country driven by a common desire for peace, stability and prosperity,” he said. The statement follows concerns expressed by US Secretary of State John Kerry and British Foreign Secretary William Hague about reports that the election had been riddled with irregularities, including the disenfranchisement of up to a million voters. Mr Tsvangirai has rejected the results that saw Mr Mugabe winning with a landslide of 61 percent while his MDC-T got 34 percent. The result effectively gives Mr Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party the power to amend the Constitution and plunges Zimbabwe into another five years of autocratic rule. Taramba zvemadhisinyongoro!!!!
Posted on: Sun, 04 Aug 2013 10:00:27 +0000
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