Zimbabwe: Mugabe calls for unity in ruling ZANU-PF party

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has called for unity in his ruling ZANU-PF party, which has been torn apart by infighting over who will eventually succeed the world’s oldest leader.

The veteran leader, who looks increasingly frail, has made two trips this year to Singapore for medical checks, which his spokesman said were related to his eyes. Private media have reported that Mugabe has prostate cancer, which officials deny.

“We do not want that (factionalism), it destroys the party and it kills the party. To the other leaders in the party, I say stop it, stop it, stop it,” Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe said.

Friday’s rally was meant to see Mugabe making a pitch to youth voters ahead of the 2018 elections, and the veteran leader spoke for more than an hour, promising to hand over farms and fund construction of housing apartments for youths.

Critics accuse Mugabe of wrecking one of Africa’s most promising economies through policies such as violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms and money printing. He and his party say the economy has been undermined by western powers.