ZAMBIAN President Hakainde Hichilema will not attend Zimbabwean President-Elect Emmerson Mnangagwa’s much-hyped inauguration today at the National Sports Stadium in the capital, Harare.
Hichilema’s acting presidential spokesperson Clayson Hamasaka said the Zambian leader is not coming to join other leaders for the event.
“He is not attending,” Hamasaka told The NewsHawks this morning.
To make matters worse, the Zambian President has not even congratulated Mnangagwa on his disputed victory.
Hichilema is a close ally of Zimbabwe’s main opposition CCC leader Nelson Chamisa who says he has been cheated yet again by Mnangagwa.
Hichilema agrees. The Zimbabwean government is making the inauguration appear like a royal affair – a king or queen’s coronation – in a desperate bid to cover up Mnangagwa’s legitimacy crisis, which sticks out like a sore thumb.
This follows a dramatic political fallout between Hichilema, who is also chair of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) troika of the organ on politics, defence and security cooperation, and Mnangagwa over the regional body’s unprecedented rejection of Zimbabwe’s recent chaotic elections as a farcical sham.
The Sadc election observer mission headed by Nevers Mumba, former Zambian vice-president appointed by Hichilema, categorically and emphatically rejected Zimbabwe’s shambolic polls outcome as a charade.
Hichilema and Mumba, with the support of several Sadc leaders behind the scenes, have stood firm on the Zimbabwe issue, leaving Mnangagwa naked on legitimacy.-STAFF WRITER
