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Mugabe’s failing health unsettles Zimbabwe politics
“Mugabe’s health impacts entirely on Zimbabwe’s political landscape. Everything revolves around his health and his age,” said a U.K.-based Zimbabwe analyst who asked not to be named.
ZANU-PF is in a bind. Voters may not want to support Mugabe if they think he may not survive the term, but the party has no other candidate who can rally the electorate.
Zimbabweans in urban areas have probably heard of Mugabe’s failing health, but urban areas are MDC strongholds. Many rural areas, considered ZANU-PF strongholds, have far les access to news and are probably not up to date on the health reports.
The most recent report on Mugabe’s health came from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who met him during a visit to Zimbabwe this week and told reporters: “He’s on top of things intellectually.”
The problems facing ZANU-PF as it considers a post-Mugabe future were highlighted by the death of a top Zimbabwean army officer in a fire.
General Solomon Mujuru, a powerbroker in Mugabe’s party for nearly four decades, was, according to authorities, burnt to ashes when his farmhouse caught fire, which led to rumors he was murdered.
The incident has further muddied the waters within ZANU-PF, meaning that with the bruising succession battle still unresolved, attention remains focussed for now on the state of Mugabe’s health.
