User blog:Bzero/Mugabe makes first speech since disputed Zimbabwe poll

Robert Mugabe is to deliver his first public speech since he won Zimbabwe's disputed presidential election.

Mr Mugabe will address a Heroes' Day celebration in the capital, Harare, to commemorate those who died during the country's war of independence.

The Movement for Democratic Change of his main rival, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is boycotting the event.

The party has lodged a legal challenge against the result of the "stolen election", demanding it be rerun.

Mr Mugabe won 61% of the vote in the election on 31 July, while Mr Tsvangirai came second with 35% and Welshman Ncube third with 3%, according to official results.

The president's Zanu-PF party also gained a parliamentary majority of more than two-thirds on the same day, winning 160 of the 210 seats.

Deep rifts
Heroes' Day is Zimbabwe's proud annual celebration, when the country remembers those who died fighting for independence in 1980, reports the BBC's Mark Lowen in Johannesburg.

On Monday, Mr Mugabe will make a speech at National Heroes' Acre, the monument in the capital where some of those killed are buried.

Our correspondent says the 89-year-old president's addresses are traditionally full of his firebrand nationalist rhetoric targeting the former colonial power, the UK, but he is also likely to laud his landslide victory in the last month's election.

The MDC is boycotting the event in protest at what it says was massive vote rigging by Zanu-PF, so this Heroes' Day will have political overtones too, exposing the deep rifts at the heart of this troubled country, our correspondent adds.

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