It was a close finish. The "crocodile" just scrapped through to legitimise his presidency, eight months after Robert Mugabe was ousted as president.

But Emmerson Mnangagwa may have to put celebrations on hold.

The opposition MDC Alliance is alleging foul play and intend to take the matter up in court.

Zimbabwe’s constitution allows for a legal challenge to the presidential results but MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa now has the huge task of proving his bold claims.

There is no room for inflammatory talk in court, just hard evidence.

Mr Chamisa has been criticised here for prematurely declaring victory and fuelling tensions particularly in the capital, Harare.

If his challenge is to succeed it won’t be through the scenes we saw on Wednesday, which led to six people being killed.

Plus a significant number of people voted for Zanu-PF and in a democracy, those votes matter.

Aside from the disputed results, both leaders have injected new life into their parties.

They have each ignited hope for what Zimbabwe could become.

But how the next few days play out will be the true test of how ready the political leaders are to embrace true democracy - where there are winners and losers but still a country to run.