Chamisa gets poll boost

MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa received a major boost yesterday when Zipra veterans threw their weight behind his campaign, a few days before the country holds watershed elections.

The war veterans were part of Zapu leader Dumiso Dabengwa's entourage at Chamisa's rally at Bulawayo's White City Stadium, where the late vice-president Joshua Nkomo's son, Sibangilizwe, gave a solidarity message.

Dabengwa has publicly backed the youthful MDC Alliance candidate in a move analysts say will give the coalition the liberation war credentials whose absence was viewed as a disadvantage for the opposition in previous elections.

The former Zipra intelligence supremo said Zimbabweans must show the same spirit they had in November last year when protests forced former president Robert Mugabe to resign.

"We showed solidarity," he said. "We showed we are one people. We made it very clear that those who had been given the mandate to administer the affairs of this country had completely failed."

Dabengwa said Zanu-PF had no capacity to solve Zimbabwe's problems, which it created through misrule.

"After (Mugabe was removed) some people said that was the voice of God, but some of us said this is an opportunity we must seize to correct everything wrong in this country and make a fresh start," he said. "This is what it is all about, we want to bring order in this country.

"Zanu-PF is incapable of bringing change. It has failed dismally."

Dabengwa said Zapu members would vote for Chamisa for the presidency.

""All our party members will vote for Chamisa for president, but we will still vote for our Zapu local government and parliamentary candidates."

Chamisa said he was "profoundly" happy to be endorsed by Dabengwa, Zapu and Zipra.

He said Dabengwa will become his advisor if he wins the elections.