President Emmerson Mnangagwa won the presidential election in Zimbabwe after ZEC Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba formally declared his victory. This exciting news certainly brings joy to his supporters. However, this was not felt by the supporters of Emmerson Mnangagwa’s opposition, Nelson Chamisa. Nelson Chamisa is the opposition of Emmerson Mnangagwa who is also the leader of the Democratic Change Movement. As a result of this disagreement, Chamisa’s supporters carried out demonstrations which caused riots.
On the day of the riot, the streets of Harare city were closed and people who protested were burning tires everywhere. To stop the mass that began to be out of control, the police arrived at the location and began firing tear gas at the demonstrators. But it was not enough to stop the demonstration.
The military wearing bullet proof clothing driving armored vehicles were deployed to come to the location. While military helicopters also took part to stop the demonstration. The sound of gunfire and the screaming of the demonstrators made the atmosphere at that time were very tense. Many regretted the attitude of military who used violence to stop the demonstration. Even though at that time, the demonstrators did not carry weapons to fight them back.
This news then spread to the community when the riot incident was reported via broadcast by Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC). In the broadcast, Charity Charamba as the Police Spokesperson said that at least 3 people were killed in this riot. However, these 3 victims could not yet be identified.
This violence also received direct criticism from the United Nations. Through the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the political leaders and community must be able to defend themselves from all forms of violence.
Previously, the supporters of the defense party
The supporters of Nelson Chamisa rejected the final election results which stated that Emmerson Mnangagwa won 144 parliamentary votes. While Nelson Chamisa only won 61 votes which means Emmerson Mnangagwa had the right to change the constitution and won the presidential election in August 2018. To win the election, Mnangagwa has to have at least more than 50% of the votes to win without a second round.
The supporters of Nelson Chamisa consider the ZEC to be cheating because it delayed the announcement of the election’s result. The postponement of the election results was criticized by observers of the European Union elections. They said delaying the results of the election announcement could reduce the credibility of ZEC. In addition, Nelson Chamisa on his twitter account said that he had won the ‘popular votes’ and defeated the candidate from Zanu PF party Emmerson Mnangagwa.