Zimbabwe marks its first independence day without Robert Mugabe in power, with new leader Emmerson Mnangagwa vowing to hold “credible” elections and turn around the southern African country’s moribund economy.
Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 until last November when he was forced to resign under pressure from his party, the military and the street.
Presiding over Wednesday’s celebrations at the national sports stadium in Harare, Mnangagwa says: “My government has put in place measures for the holding of transparent, free, fair and credible elections.”
Admitting that the country’s economic crisis was causing “great hardship”, he added: “My administration’s focus is on the pursuit of investment-led economic recovery, job creation (and) poverty reduction.”
The celebrations come as the government fired thousands of nurses who kicked off a strike demanding higher pay on Monday amid growing labor unrest.
Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former deputy and a veteran loyalist in the ruling ZANU-PF, is widely expected to retain power along with the party in the elections expected in July or August.
— AFP
Army General Constantino Chiwenga, center, arrives with his wife Mary at the presidential inauguration ceremony of Emmerson Mnangagwa in Harare, Zimbabwe, November 24, 2017. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)
Discover Israel's most beloved poet
She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel’s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.
You can screen 'The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg' June 4-11. Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
