25th May, 2016
Tens of thousands of Robert Mugabe’s supporters marched on Wednesday in Harare in a show of solidarity as divisions are widening within the president’s party over who might succeed him.
Prosper Machado, a youth leader from central Zimbabwe, said demonstrators were shipped in from all over Zimbabwe for the “One Million-Man” march, organised by the ZANU-PF party’s youth wing.
He said they sang pro-Mugabe songs as they spilled out of buses in downtown Harare.
“We are here to tell everyone that the youth league is 100 percent behind comrade Mugabe’s leadership.
“We are saying no to factionalism because President Mugabe is the only centre of power that we recognise.
“He is our candidate for 2018 election and so there is no vacancy,” he said.
92-year old Mugabe is the only leader the southern African nation has known since independence from Britain in 1980.
As senior members of his ZANU-PF jockey for position in a post-Mugabe era, two factions have emerged, one linked to Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and one to Mugabe’s wife Grace.
Obert Gutu, Spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said the march was an attempt to react over the party’s disintegration.
He said majority of Zimbabweans are living in grinding poverty and are not happy.
Gutu said ZANU-PF wants to divert people’s attention from the collapsing economy and to massage Robert Mugabe’s ego.
“If anything, Zimbabweans should march and demand Mugabe’s immediate resignation from office.
Gutu said Mugabe’s supporters call him an African icon who stands up to the West, but his critics say he has ruined a once promising nation with controversial policies.
He said such include the seizure of land from white farmers, which hit commercial agriculture.