AP interview with Tsvangirai on new Zimbabwean President

(30 Nov 2017) Zimbabwe's new President Emmerson Mnangagwa has a "very small window" to show he is meeting national expectations of change after the downfall of predecessor Robert Mugabe, the country's main opposition leader said on Thursday.
Morgan Tsvangirai said in an interview with The Associated Press that it will be "very difficult to convince anyone" that Zimbabwe's new leadership is improving the situation as long as much of the population is struggling to get by in the economically devastated country.
Tsvangirai spoke almost a week after the inauguration of Mnangagwa, a former vice president and close ally of Mugabe for decades who promised that "harmonized" elections will be held as scheduled next year and that democracy will be strengthened.
The opposition leader -- who joined an uneasy coalition government with Mugabe following the 2008 elections which were marred by violence and vote-rigging -- said he has doubts about whether the new president will bring meaningful change.
Brokered by regional mediators, the power-sharing arrangement between Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party and Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party ended when the opposition lost disputed elections in 2013.
Zimbabwe's opposition has since struggled with internal splits, but now sees an opportunity in the resignation of Mugabe after 37 years in power. The former president, 93, was forced out after a military takeover and nationwide calls for his ouster.
The opposition leader has been treated for colon cancer in neighbouring South Africa amid concern about whether he can be at the forefront of political campaigning next year.
"Should my evaluation at the point of the campaign review that I can't proceed, I will inform the nation. But so far, I'm responding well to treatment", he said.
He described himself as a "symbol of resistance, of democratization in this country" and that "sustaining that brand is very, very difficult."
Ruling party officials have said Mugabe won't face prosecution.
Tsvangirai, who previously described his power-sharing deal with Mugabe as a "loveless marriage," said that "it would be wrong to pursue" the former president, citing his advanced age as the reason.
"Mugabe invokes two emotions - a hero of the liberation struggle and a villain toward the end of his administration," the opposition leader said.
However, he said Mugabe's wife Grace, whose polarizing ambitions to succeed her husband accelerated the end of his rule, will be evaluated in a "very, very negative" light.
"I wouldn't say that they should not proceed to prosecute her" for any alleged crimes, Tsvangirai said.

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