Live Mugabe Presser: Election 2013

Politics
Southern Eye brings you live updates from the State house where President Robert Mugabe is due to give a press conference.

Southern Eye brings you live updates from the State house where President Robert Mugabe is due to give a press conference.

By John Mokwetsi and Tapiwa Zivira

17:00 – Press conference ends.

16:48 – “I don’t control the Electoral process, I comply with the Electoral law.” Mugabe

16:45 – He says his chances of winning the elections are as good as they were in 1980.

16:42 –  Mugabe says as they are using the US Dollar, after the elections, he will see when they would introduce the Zimbabwean dollar. “We will not do it hastily though.” he says.

President Mugabe accuses former British Prime Minister Tony Blair of trying to reverse the land reform exercise.

Question: If you lose are you prepared to hand over power.

Answer: If you go into a process, you either win or lose…If you lose it is normal in a democracy to hand over power.

Question time: President Mugabe goes back into colonial history and narrates the liberation struggle and pre -independence politics.

Mugabe:One of the hitches was the delay in delivering of voter registers. But that has been overcome now and all stations have registers and when voting starts tomorrow it will start at the regulated time.

Mugabe: This is an opportunity for people to go and cast their vote for the party of their choices. There were a few hitches here and there and we had to attack politically, which is what of what is supposed to do in an election camapign. I got my fair share of criticism and I also hit back.

Says Mugabe:I want therefore to wish all those are candidates every success but I always want to thank the other partuies, big and small, the MDCs and their leaders for what was a joint exericse and appeal to our nation for peace for a fair anf violence free campaing. there might have been a few incidents here and there but those of you who were with us from the beginning of the campaign you will have notcied that our meetings and interactions were very peaceful and we owe the decision that all of us took on the need for a peaceful elections, all of us the principals, Tsvangirai, Mutambara and even the cabinet

On behalf of my party members I would like to thank my party members for the energy sapping orgnaising that they undertook. He says tomorrow marks an end of what was a vibrant campaigning period. 1600 Mugabe arrives and welcomes journalists

 

15:32: Ealier on MDC-T held a press conference in which they told reporters that they allegedly received information that election results are set to be handed over to security chiefs in the Joint Operation Command before they are released, triggering fears of a repeat of the 2008 harmonised polls when results were not released for a month.

15:26pm: Journalists and Zanu PF officials trickling in. Minister of Defense, Emerson Munangagwa is already here. President Mugabe yet to arrive.