1st November, 2021
Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party has endorsed 79 year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
He will be 81 when standing for the election.
He will thus be treading a familiar path, that of Robert Mugabe’s who ruled Zimbabwe between 1980 and 2017, who also contested election at 94.
Mnangagwa’s candidacy was endorsed by all the party wings after considering the work he had undertaken to develop the country since winning the 2018 harmonized elections.
The endorsement was made at the party’s annual conference which ended Saturday in the town of Bindura, about 60 km north of Harare.
According to the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper, the party’s acting spokesperson Mike Bimha said the decision to endorse Mnangagwa was unanimous.
“I want to advise you that all the organs and wings of the party have endorsed President Mnangagwa (as the 2023 presidential candidate).
“This was the main resolution,” Bimha told the newspaper after the meeting.
Bimha said the conference resolved to re-energize the party in preparation for the 2023 elections.
The party also undertook to discipline members who engaged in violence and other vices such as corruption and abuse of office.