BULAWAYO: Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa survived a blast at a ruling ZANU-PF party rally on Saturday, while one of his vice-presidents and two other party officials were wounded. A number of other people were also hurt in the explosion during the election campaign event in Zimbabwe’s second city Bulawayo, according to witnesses, but no official toll has yet emerged.

Footage circulating on social media showed an explosion and plumes of smoke around the president as he descended stairs from the podium at the White City stadium. Images broadcast on Zimbabwean TV showed scenes of chaos and medics fighting to save those wounded by the blast.

Vice President Kemo Mohadi, ZANU-PF chairwoman and cabinet minister Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri and party secretary Engelbert Rugeje were injured, state broadcaster ZBC said. “The president was evacuated successfully. He is at state house in Bulawayo,” said Mnangagwa’s spokesman George Charamba. “We suspect it’s an explosion, certainly it was close to the VVIP stage.”

First polls since Mugabe’s exit

Mnangagwa had been in the city to campaign for votes ahead of nationwide elections due on July 30. Bulawayo has long been seen as a bastion of opposition to the ZANU-PF and it was Mnangagwa’s first rally in the city.

The polls in five weeks will be the first since Zimbabwe’s veteran leader Robert Mugabe resigned following a brief military takeover in November last year after 37 years in power. The intervention by the army was led by Chiwenga who was then head of the armed forces.

The vote will be a key test for Mnangagwa, 75, who succeeded the 94-year-old autocrat and remains untested at the ballot box. He has pledged to hold free and fair elections as he seeks to mend international relations and have sanctions against Zimbabwe dropped.

Twenty-three candidates — the highest number in the country’s history — will contest the presidential race. The main competition will be between Mnangagwa and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s leader, 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa.

EU deploys first vote monitors

The European Union on Saturday began deploying election observers in Zimbabwe for the first time in 16 years, ahead of next month’s vote. Mark Stevens, EU deputy chief observer, said 44 observers have started work, and this will rise to 140 on the day of the vote.

“The long-term observers will cover all 10 provinces in both urban and rural areas,” he told reporters. “They will observe the entire electoral process prior, during and after the harmonised elections, scheduled for July 30.”

“The EU was very happy to receive an invitation to observe this election. We are very happy to deploy a mission,” said Stevens. It is the first such EU mission to Zimbabwe since 2002, when the head of the team was expelled before the vote.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2018