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• Gets ex-president’s backing
A retired Zimbabwean general and acolyte of ex-president Robert Mugabe who quit Zimbabwe’s ruling party, ZANU-PF to protest the removal of Mugabe has formed a political party to challenge President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the polls later this year.
Ambrose Mutinhiri, a veteran of the 1970s war against white minority rule, met Mugabe on Sunday before announcing he had formed an opposition party named the National Patriotic Front (NFP) .
Mutinhiri had resigned from parliament on Friday, citing the military intervention that pressured 94-year-old Mugabe into stepping down in November as his reason for cutting ties with the ruling ZANU-PF party. State media reported yesterday that Mutinhiri’s party had Mugabe’s backing. The party said it was sympathetic to Mugabe, posting a picture of Mutinhiri with Mugabe.
Mugabe, 94, was forced to step down last November following a de facto military coup. Sources close to the former leader say he is bitter over his departure after 37 years in office and has given his support to the New Patriotic Front (NFP) party.
