Zimbabwe president escapes assassination attempt

A campaign rally attended by Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa in Bulawayo on Saturday afternoon took a worrying turn when an explosive exploded as the president walked off the podium after delivering a speech, a move that appeared to be an attempt on his life.

Mnangagwa, 75 and the candidate of the ruling party, Zanu-PF, in the presidential election scheduled for 30 July, had just finished giving a speech in a stadium in Zimbabwe’s second-largest city, Bulawayo, when the blast went off near him and other government officials as they get offstage.

According to the president's spokesman, the head of state was successfully evacuated.

The president has been successfully evacuated. He is at the provincial headquarters in Bulawayo, spokesman George Charamba told AFP by telephone.

We think it was an explosion, which certainly happened very close to the podium where the personalities were, Charamba continued, without further clarification.

Widely circulated videos on social media show a cloud of smoke and a small explosion knocking over people standing in the vicinity. 

Nick Mangwana, the chairman of ZANU-PF in the United Kingdom says some of the injured include Dr. Engelbert Rugeje, Mrs Mabel Chinomona and Mrs Marry Chiwenga among other dignitaries.

This clip captures the incident pic.twitter.com/DszQj3TJdN

— Nick mangwana (@nickmangwana) June 23, 2018

The presidential and legislative elections on 30 July are the first to be held since the November resignation of President Robert Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe with an iron fist since independence in 1980.