Zimbabwe presidential inauguration delayed after court appeal

HARARE: Zimbabwe’s presidential inauguration has been postponed, the justice minister said Friday, after the opposition MDC party lodged a court bid to overturn the results that gave a narrow victory for Emmerson Mnangagwa.

“The inauguration is no longer going ahead (on Sunday) as planned,” Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi told AFP. “All proceedings are suspended pending the determination of the Constitutional Court.” Zimbabwe’s MDC opposition party lodged a court bid Friday to overturn the results of presidential elections that it alleges were rigged to ensure victory for Robert Mugabe’s successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has accused the ruling ZANU-PF party and the election commission of ballot fraud in the July 30 vote, Zimbabwe’s first poll since the ousting of Mugabe in November. Mnangagwa’s inauguration — planned for Sunday — was immediately postponed until the court makes its ruling, which is due within 14 days. “We will rest when this country is liberated,” Jameson Timba, a senior member of the MDC, told journalists outside the Constitutional Court after party lawyers arrived accompanied by plastic boxes full of paperwork.