‘Principled’ Mugabe will step down if he loses vote

ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe expects to win next month’s presidential runoff, but will not cling to power if he loses, the government newspaper reported yesterday.

“We are very, very confident we will win this election,” Emmerson Mnangagwa, a top Mugabe aide, was quoted as saying in yesterday's edition of The Herald, a government and ruling party mouthpiece.

But “if the president loses, he will be the first one to go on national television to acknowledge the result to the people,” Mnangagwa said. “He is a very principled hero.”