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President Robert Mugabe

Freeman Razemba Harare Bureau
ZIMBABWEANS have faith in President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF’s leadership and if elections are to be held today, the revolutionary party will emphatically romp to victory, a survey prepared by a local political think tank, the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI), revealed yesterday.

This comes barely two months after another think tank, Ghana-based Afrobarometer, released a survey titled “MDC-T defeat in Zimbabwe: Was it only due to intimidation?” confirming that President Mugabe was voted into power due to his performance.

Afrobarometer argued that President Mugabe was retained by the country’s electorate out of trust, not fear, managing to keep his closest rival and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai at bay.

In MPOI’s survey, independently conducted among Zimbabweans in the country’s 10 provinces, it was proved that the majority of adult Zimbabweans have the highest regard for President Mugabe on all five subjects that were under scrutiny.

President Mugabe scored high in critical areas including: hardworking, qualified to govern, honest, peace loving and care for the people.

The President got 71 percent for hardworking, qualified to govern (63 percent), honest (60 percent), peace loving (72 percent) and 64 percent for caring for the people.

The think tank interviewed 1,200 adult Zimbabweans between July 6 and 18 this year drawn from the country’s 10 provinces. MPOI said despite some Zimbabweans expressing discontent with the overall direction where the country was heading in terms of its economic performance, the majority of the people still approved of President Mugabe’s leadership.

“On key findings on qualities of leadership and alternative leadership in Zimbabwe, majority of adult Zimbabweans have highest regard for President Robert Mugabe on all the five aspects that were the subject of scrutiny,” reads part of the report.

On the other hand, MDC-T leader Tsvangirai as usual played second fiddle to President Mugabe, coming second and receiving below majority ratings on all the five key areas.

On hardworking, he scored 49 percent, qualified to govern (43 percent), honesty (35 percent) while on peace loving and caring for the people he received 49 percent and 47 percent, respectively. “Former Vice President Joice Mujuru is in third position and receives highest score in terms of hard work, but receives below majority endorsement on the other elements.

“PDP (People’s Democratic Party) leader Tendai Biti comes in fourth place in the rankings, receiving highest score in terms of hard working, but poorest rate on the aspect of honesty.”

Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni, was fifth in terms of the survey.

“Opposition leaders Dumiso Dabengwa, Prof Welshman Ncube, Prof Lovemore Madhuku and Elton Mangoma proved to be less popular with only an average of about 10 percent of survey respondents positively assessing the four leaders on the five leadership attributes which were under scrutiny.”

MPOI said in terms of voting, almost half of the adult Zimbabwean population (47 percent) said they would vote for Zanu-PF if presidential elections were to be held “tomorrow”.

About 55 percent of rural dwellers, more than 30 percent urbanites, said they would vote for Zanu-PF, according to the survey.

“A fifth (20 percent) said they would vote for Morgan Tsvangirai, 15 percent refused to answer and nine percent said they would not vote. Support for Welshman Ncube, Mavambo/Dawn/Kusile and Zapu-Dabengwa approaches zero.”

Various studies before and after the July 2013 elections have shown President Mugabe edging Tsvangirai in popularity.

This is despite the fact that the country is under Western sanctions designed to hurt the economy and make the people vote President Mugabe out of office.