Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Chamisa boycotts Mnangagwa’s inauguration

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader on Saturday said he would boycott President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration on Sunday, as he rejected the Constitutional Court ruling on the July 30 election.

The ruling confirmed President Emmerson Mnangagwa as winner of the presidential vote and said he had a legitimate claim to lead the country.

The Constitutional Court, also called Concourt, dismissed Nelson Chamisa’s challenge on Friday, saying he had failed to prove his allegations of vote fraud.

“I respectfully disagree and reject the position that was arrived at by the constitutional court,” Chamisa told reporters in Harare at the party headquarters .

“I have a legitimate claim that I should lead Zimbabwe,” Chamisa said.

In a tweet on the heels of the judgment, Chamisa said: “I hear your cries & feel your pain. I know you feel cheated, but take heart — your victory is not lost. Your will is sacred & we’ll listen to you on the path of peace & course of action to be taken to rescue our beautiful Zimbabwe from the jaws of poverty, corruption & dishonesty”

Last month’s election, the first since Robert Mugabe was removed as President in a November coup, was expected to pull Zimbabwe out of its diplomatic isolation, end international sanctions and prompt an economic recovery.

But the vote has left the nation polarised, with violence flaring on the streets of Harare, and Chamisa, who leads the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), mounting his legal challenge.

Responding to Mnangagwa’s Twitter comments that his door and arms were open to Chamisa, the 40-year-old opposition leader said any negotiations with the ruling party could only be about resolving the president’s legitimacy and “vicious cycle of disputed elections”.

Chamisa also repeated that peaceful street protests would be an option that the opposition would take to “protect the people’s victory”.