Opposition politician Elisabeth Valerio says Zimbabwe is suffering from widespread corruption and poor service delivery, which has caused many Zimbabweans to lose trust in the government.
Valerio, the only female presidential candidate in the 2023 harmonised elections, said that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has focused more on holding onto power and deceiving the public with empty slogans, rather than keeping its election promises. She said:
We are merely two years into this term, but already the national discourse is being hijacked by the self-serving agenda of prolonging political dominance rather than addressing the immediate and pressing needs of the citizenry.
This push for an extended term may in part have been intensified because many of the current political players now know that their likelihood of reelection (in a true democracy) is slim!
The United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) leader said the country is being held hostage by the internal conflicts within the ruling ZANU PF party, and her party has no interest in their current power struggles.
Valerio urged ZANU PF to follow the Constitution of Zimbabwe and respect democratic principles, rather than just focusing on holding onto political power.
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