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NGO says Makoni wont break Mugabe's hold
SABC News
February 25, 2008

http://www.sabcnews.com/africa/southern_africa/0,2172,164822,00.html

Zimbabwean NGO, the National Constitutional Assembly, says the chances of former finance minister Simba Makoni unseating president Robert Mugabe at next month's general elections are very slim.

The group's chairperson, Lovemore Madhuku, says the institutional framework and Makoni's lack of support from the grassroots remain his major obstacle.

Madhuku says Makoni is seen as someone who will divide the opposition vote even further. The Mutambara led-MDC has already thrown its weight behind him (Makoni).

Analysts say as long as the current electoral system and the constitution of Zimbabwe remain as they are, no one will unseat Mugabe. Mugabe, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has heaped scorn on his two main opponents, comparing Makoni to a 'puffed-up frog and political prostitute' and calling MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai a 'puppet of Britain and the United States'.

The British and US governments have accused the Zimbabwean government of widespread human rights abuses, stifling dissent and destroying a once-prosperous economy, which is suffering from inflation of more than 100 000%, mass unemployment and chronic food and fuel shortages.

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