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Simba Makoni joins the presidential race in Zimbabwe - Index of Articles
Heavyweight
backing for Makoni in election
Thando Ncube, The Sunday Argus (SA)
March 02, 2008
http://www.zwnews.com/issuefull.cfm?ArticleID=18309
Breakaway ruling party
candidate Simba Makoni received a big boost for his presidential
campaign yesterday when one of Zimbabwe's political heavyweights,
Dumiso Dabengwa, declared his support for him. Dabengwa joined him
on the podium when Makoni launched his election campaign yesterday
before about 10 000 people in Bulawayo's White City Stadium. Dabengwa,
a member of Zanu PF's politburo, had earlier yesterday announced
his backing during Makoni's meeting with the Bulawayo business community.
Reliable sources have revealed another Zanu PF strongman, former
army general Solomon Mujuru, husband of one of Mugabe's vice-presidents
Joyce Mujuru, will come out in full support of Makoni during the
Harare rally. Mujuru is considered a big catch for Makoni, especially
because he commands support within the military.
A huge crowd
greeted Makoni, who is seen by many as having the best chance of
unseating President Robert Mugabe, 84, in the March 29 presidential
election. Makoni, a former finance minister in Mugabe's cabinet,
was also in the politburo before being expelled
last month. Dabengwa, a Matabele, has held several positions in
Mugabe's cabinet, and was the intelligence chief of Joshua Nkomo's
Zapu before it merged with Zanu PF in the 1980s. Dabengwa is among
several Zanu PF heavyweights who are rumoured to be backing Makoni,
but who have been lying low to avoid repercussions from Mugabe.
Dabengwa said: "Today I have come out in the open; I am one
of the people who encouraged Simba Makoni to stand for the post
of president. We encouraged him to have a go at it and offered him
our support. We could not have the country led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
We do not want a Zambian scenario during the Chiluba era."
Dabengwa said he was
backing Makoni because Mugabe had manipulated Zanu PF's constitution
to ensure that he became the party's candidate. As Zapu head of
intelligence, Dabengwa played a crucial role during Zimbabwe's liberation
war against the government of Ian Smith. Soon after independence
in 1980, the Mugabe government arrested Dabengwa and another Zapu
leader, Lookout Masuku, after arms caches were found in Zapu bases.
The two were tortured in prison and Masuku eventually died. Dabengwa's
announcement yesterday came as a relief to the Makoni camp as doubts
were starting to grow about his claims to have backing from many
Zanu PF heavyweights. Dabengwa's support should help Makoni win
local votes, especially because many people are still bitter about
Mugabe's massacre of Ndebeles in the early 1980s. "The people
of Zimbabwe are now surviving on food hand-outs, yet soon after
independence the communal areas were able to produce for export.
Almost everyone in Zimbabwe is a criminal, from buying and selling
foreign currency on the black market and selling commodities on
the black market. That is what we want to get rid of," said
Makoni. He said he would not respond to insults from Mugabe and
would only concentrate on issues affecting Zimbabweans in their
everyday lives, including the food shortages and energy crisis.
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