Zimbabwe's opposition MDC party on Friday called off plans to hold a mock inauguration to name its leader Nelson Chamisa as the country's president after public gatherings were banned due to a cholera outbreak.
The MDC had planned the event to highlight its claims that the July 30 election was rigged and that Chamisa was the rightful president, rather than President Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling ZANU-PF.
The MDC accused the government of using the cholera outbreak, which has claimed 25 lives, to stop the mock inauguration at the party's 19th anniversary celebrations in Harare on Saturday.
Authorities have banned public gatherings in the city as a health measure.
"The Movement for Democratic Change has postponed its 19th anniversary celebrations," party spokesman Jacob Mafume said in a statement.
"It is clear that the government is abusing the cholera epidemic for political purposes and puts into serious doubt that the ban of our commemoration event was out of genuine concern."
The Zimbabwe Red Cross has deployed 1,000 volunteers to affected suburbs in the capital as it characterised the situation as "incredibly complex."