Spillblood

od as one of the country’s two vice-presidents.

He also indicated that the man who once seemed almost certain to take over from him when he retires from politics, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the Speaker of the Parliament, was now out of the race for the presidency.

To further bolster his power, the President approved legislation that will make it a criminal offence, with a possible sentence of 20 years in jail, to “make a falsehood” about Mugabe, the police or the army or to criticise Mugabe in a private letter or e-mail.

Ian Coltart, legal adviser to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said: “This is the most fascist legislation we have ever seen – worse than anything done by Ian Smith when he ran Rhodesia.”