News / National
Chamisa chides Mnangagwa
05 Dec 2018 at 19:49hrs | Views
MDC leader Nelson Chamisa has chided President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF over alleged attempts to take away citizens' freedoms through a proposed constitutional amendment to raise the presidential age entry point from 40 to 52.
He was responding to utterances by Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association secretary Victor Matemadanda the pro-Zanu-PF association would call on the party's national conference this December to use its parliamentary majority to push a constitutional amendment that raises the age for presidential candidates.
The proposed move is viewed as targeted at Chamisa, who at the age of 40, almost upstaged the 76 year-old leader during the July 30 elections which saw Mnangagwa escape with a slender 50,8 percent of the national vote. This helped the Zanu-PF leader escape a run-off which would have pitted him against Chamisa alone.
Chamisa on Wednesday took to twitter to express his contempt over alleged attempts by the incumbent to "fix the young".
"If ever one doubted on the 30 July election victory just listen to the chief's outburst. They rule but can't lead. The old want to fix the young. Instead of raising the DEMOCRACY bar ED wants to raise the AGE bar. No true new amends the constitution to take away rights," said Chamisa.
The MDC leader also retweeted former legislator and party ally David Coltart's comments in which the latter says he believed the government was out to sabotage Chamisa because it considered him a real threat to Mnangagwa's bid to seek re-election 2023.
"Chamisa has really caused a stir in Zimbabwe," Coltart said.
"Imagine wanting to amend a whole constitution just to prevent one individual from becoming president. If the USA has something similar, they could have missed out both Kennedy and Barack Obama."
MDC youths have also vowed to resist the move by Zanu-PF to reduce the country into "an old people's home".
He was responding to utterances by Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans' Association secretary Victor Matemadanda the pro-Zanu-PF association would call on the party's national conference this December to use its parliamentary majority to push a constitutional amendment that raises the age for presidential candidates.
The proposed move is viewed as targeted at Chamisa, who at the age of 40, almost upstaged the 76 year-old leader during the July 30 elections which saw Mnangagwa escape with a slender 50,8 percent of the national vote. This helped the Zanu-PF leader escape a run-off which would have pitted him against Chamisa alone.
Chamisa on Wednesday took to twitter to express his contempt over alleged attempts by the incumbent to "fix the young".
The MDC leader also retweeted former legislator and party ally David Coltart's comments in which the latter says he believed the government was out to sabotage Chamisa because it considered him a real threat to Mnangagwa's bid to seek re-election 2023.
"Chamisa has really caused a stir in Zimbabwe," Coltart said.
"Imagine wanting to amend a whole constitution just to prevent one individual from becoming president. If the USA has something similar, they could have missed out both Kennedy and Barack Obama."
MDC youths have also vowed to resist the move by Zanu-PF to reduce the country into "an old people's home".
Source - newzimbabwe
