I cannot vote for those who tormented me – Mugabe

Less than a day before Zimbabweans go to the polls‚ former president Robert Mugabe says he will not vote for those who removed him from power.

“I must say very clearly: I cannot vote for those who have tormented me. I can’t. I will make my choice among the other 22 [presidential candidates]‚” Mugabe said during a media briefing he held on Sunday.

Zimbabweans go the polls on Monday‚ which are the first without Mugabe contesting for the presidential seat.

In his briefing Mugabe mentioned some of the candidates that he had worked with.

“Whoever wins and if he does‚ I wish him well. But I hope the choice or the voting which will be done tomorrow - this is what I regard as the greatest event that should happen - will reform‚ will thrust away military form of government and bring us back to constitutionality.

“We must have a democratic constitution. That is what we fought for. We always say the people‚ the people…the people’s freedom first and foremost.

“These are the things that we always cried for when we were waging our struggle for the freedom of Zimbabwe. And we had that freedom…the people’s freedom to speak‚ organise themselves as they liked‚ to belong to any party of their own choice [and] to go about freely in their country‚” Mugabe said.

Mugabe was removed from power in November last year in a soft coup which later resulted in Emmerson Mnangagwa becoming president of the Southern African country.

- TimesLIVE