Hundreds of young people from Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF, chanted slogans denouncing former leader Robert Mugabe. Such action would have been unheard of prior to him being forced from power in November.
At a meeting with current Zimbabwe president, Emerson Mnangagwa, ZANU-PF youths took turns critcizing Mugabe while praising the new Mnangagwa-led government.
Young party members and party officials have so far refrained from condemning Mugabe, instead denouncing his allies.
In public, President Mnangagwa has continued to refer to 94-year-old Mugabe as an “icon” for leading Zimbabwe’s independence war, but news this week that Mugabe is backing a new political party apparently caused a rift between Mugabe and his former ZANU-PF allies.
The New Patriotic Front, a new party headed by former army general and Mugabe loyalist Ambrose Mutinhiri, said it has Mugabe’s support and will challenge Mnangagwa at polls expected in a few months.
