Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will respect the will of voters if they end his 28-year rule in a run-off election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, the state-run Herald newspaper reported on Monday. Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll but failed to win an absolute majority.
Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe accepted that the opposition's Morgan Tsvangirai won more votes in the presidential election and will contest a run-off in a political battle that has raised fears of bloodshed. Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) cried foul after Zimbabwe's electoral body announced on Friday that he had won 47,9% of the vote
South African President Thabo Mbeki was to hold talks on Saturday with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe in Harare before heading on to Lusaka for a summit on Zimbabwe's post-election crisis, an official said. Mugabe has chosen not to attend the gathering of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.
Police have banned political rallies and the opposition has accused the authorities of waging a violent crackdown as Zimbabwe's political crisis deepens nearly two weeks after a presidential election that produced no official winner. Zimbabwe's neighbours hope to find a resolution on Saturday at an emergency summit in Zambia.
An independent Zimbabwe newspaper on Friday claimed that President Robert Mugabe has named four potential successors, and they do not include Vice-President Joyce Mujuru. The Zimbabwe Independent claimed Mugabe said that the four serious candidates to succeed him were Emmerson Mnangagwa, Sydney Sekeramayi, John Nkomo and Simba Makoni.
Zimbabwe will not allow foreigners to own broadcasting stations but could relax rules and licence locals who have been battling to meet stringent requirements, the information minister said on Monday. "On the issue of ownership we cannot compromise," Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told a committee of lawmakers.
The ruling party in Zimbabwe has agreed to enforce age limits for its powerful youth wing in what analysts say may be a move to rein in over-ambitious leaders embroiled in the Zanu-PF's messy succession debate, it emerged on Monday. Leaders of Zanu-PF's youth wing must now not be older than 30 years, according to a report in Herald newspaper.
