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'I anticipate a landslide'
The Guardian
March 24, 2008

http://www.guardianweekly.co.uk/?page=editorial&id=543&catID=1

Zimbabwe's former finance minister Simba Makoni, who turned 58 over the weekend, has gone head to head with Robert Mugabe in the run up to presidential elections on March 29. His decision to challenge his former mentor and boss has met with mixed feelings. Some have vowed to him their support while others have accused him of stalking Mugabe's horse in a bid to undermine the chances of MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Here, Makoni speaks about his mission, his meeting with Mugabe, and his chances in the polls on Saturday

Monday March 24th 2008
I decided to run for president in July 2007. It was after Robert Mugabe had announced in March - long before any of the processes required for a person to take leadership of the party had been set in motion - that he would lead the party into the next election.

It was then that I convinced myself we needed urgent renewal, and that I needed to do something to bring it about. I began a process of consultation with a wide cross-section of people within Zanu-PF and outside.

I went to Mugabe to tell him there was a growing desire for renewal among some of his party members, renewal of leadership in the party and in the country, and that there was a feeling this should come from within the party.

I was frank with him, and told him that I was prepared to stand as president. I also told him there were people who supported my decision to move in. He took note.

I won't be in this presidential campaign alone. There will be many more of us - a great many of us. But I am not standing in the name of any party; I am standing as an independent. I would have wanted to stand on a Zanu-PF ticket, but that opportunity was denied to any other cadre within the party.

I believe my chances in the elections are very good - overwhelming even. I am confident of beating Mugabe. Zimbabweans are going through such stress and tension because of the myriad economic problems in the country, such as poverty that affects more than 80% of the population, and rampant unemployment, especially among the young.

I urge all those who yearn for genuine renewal and improvement in our conditions - those who, like me, yearn for the restoration of a united nation, for genuine national reconciliation, for our proper place in the region and the global village - to come forward and participate in the forthcoming elections under our banner.

But let me also encourage those others in Zanu-PF who have been, and are still, working with us in this project for national renewal, to remain steadfast and not be intimidated. I don't feel threatened. My security is among the people.

Mugabe may have been elected at the December congress [the main agenda of which was to confirm his candidature for the presidency], but let me tell you this. When the full facts of the processes that led to that congress are made public, people will understand why this decision has been necessary. Questions will be asked of the legal secretary, the secretary for administration and the political commissar.

I am asked: "Where are your alleged Zanu-PF party supporters?" But what is this notion that people have, this belief that I was ever going to parade people in front of the cameras? My consultations were not only with people in the leadership of Zanu-PF but with all the people of Zimbabwe, at a grassroots level.

I have come out and said that Zimbabwe's crisis is the result of the failure of our national leadership, so I don't understand it when people still expect to see me parade in public members of this very same leadership, who are responsible for these same failures. Wouldn't that be a contradiction?

I have stood for hours in cash queues with ordinary people; I know first-hand the tribulations they suffer, standing out there for long periods of time just to withdraw a measely $5million. The people who matter most are the people who are going to come out on March 29 to deliver a verdict.

No Zanu-PF officials have approached me to launch this challenge. I am nobody's tool or agent. I had views of my own, that we were long overdue a change of leadership. And I found that there was some significant support for that change. I urge people not to be duped by the falsehood that I am a Zanu-PF ploy.

I am asked why I waited until July 2007 to challenge Mugabe when I had seen the rot set in long before. But if you look at the record of all my public pronouncements, during the years I served in government and since leaving government, you will realise what I have always been about.

I wanted to see a return to the original principles we held as a party at independence, when the president told us to turn our swords into plough-shares and establish an equitable and prosperous society. Those values are still relevant now. It is just the leadership's deviation from those values that I'm seeking to reverse.

Until the last minute I continued in Zanu-PF working towards a return to those original values. I persevered only in the hope that there would be some renewal of our party. Zimbabwe's ruling party has a history, but it must also have a future.

Judging by the responses to my announcement to run for president, I do not anticipate anything short of a landslide. The enthusiasm is palpable.

I do not make any distinction between urban and rural constituencies. Why do we always want to categorise our people? Why do we herd them into paddocks? All of them are Zimbabweans, and all of them yearn for the same thing, which is an immediate renewal of our country. We should not create unnatural barriers.

I have been criticised for being vague on policy and strategy. But what I will not do is make high-sounding promises to the people of Zimbabwe. I want to emphasise this. I am not going to give them a reel of menus and recipes. What I am offering is an opportunity to make changes, and to have real empowerment.

I am not going to stand in front of the people and say: "I will build a road here, a house here, a dam there." I cannot make such promises. There are 14 million Zimbabweans, and what I am about is offering each one of them the chance to once again make the best out of their opportunities, a chance to realise their full potential.

Mugabe's government made many lofty promises, but it was a mistake to believe any of them would be delivered.

My economic priority would be to get the land producing again. We could get all the fertiliser from China, India and so on, but the task would be to get our own Zimbabwean companies going again. Manufacturing capacity is down, primarily because companies cannot source raw materials. There will be a need for technological overhaul in our industry, and we will need to recapitalise our factories.

The most important thing is to get our people re-engaged, and to restore their confidence, such that there will be no need for a parallel market, or the need to pretend there is a formal market when one no longer exists. This economy can still be turned around.

*Simba Makoni was talking to Njabulo Ncube in Harare.

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