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Tsvangirai draws record rally crowd
Angus Shaw, The Mail & Guardian (SA)
March 24, 2008

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa&articleid=335317

President Robert Mugabe on Sunday vowed that his main political rival would never rule Zimbabwe, as the opposition raised concerns that the governing party would rig the March 29 ballot.

Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai drew the biggest crowd so far in the election campaign, drawing at least 30 000 people to a field in western Harare, compared with 10 000 people who attended a rally by Mugabe in the capital on Saturday and 3 000 for Mugabe's rally in the second city of Bulawayo on Sunday.

"Tsvangirai will never, never rule this country," Mugabe told the crowd, many of whom were bussed in from rural areas. "Those who want to vote for him can do so but those votes will be wasted votes."

Mugabe (84) was once expected to coast to victory in the elections.

But both Tsvangirai (55) and the other presidential candidate, former finance minister Simba Makoni, an independent, say they are riding high on anger against record inflation topping 100 000% and widespread shortages of all basic supplies.

At his rally, Tsvangirai said he expected Mugabe to "engage in every trick in the book" to rig the polls. Western observers are barred, with only delegates from "friendly" countries invited.

The opposition movement on Sunday said leaked documents showed that nine million ballot papers were ordered for the 5,9-million people registered to vote next Saturday, and that 600 000 postal ballot papers were requisitioned for a few thousand soldiers, police and civil servants away from their home districts and for diplomats and their families abroad.

It has also protested against last-minute changes to voting procedures allowing police a supervisory role inside polling stations, saying this would intimidate voters.

Tsvangirai supporters waved red cards, an opposition symbol denoting a soccer referee sending Mugabe off the field of play. One musical group received thunderous applause for singing: "Saddam has gone, Bob is next."

A few uniformed police ringed the field. Many supporters, singing and wearing Tsvangirai T-shirts, arrived on old trucks and vans belching exhaust smoke. A helium balloon aloft declared a Tsvangirai campaign slogan: "Morgan is more." The carnival atmosphere contrasted with Mugabe's austere meetings.

'Eating fire' Tsvangirai said Mugabe was "really mad" over recent opposition gains before the election. He said that the president "was eating fire" after the poor turnout at Saturday's rally. "He was in a panic. When an old man is so angry, the writing is on the wall," Tsvangirai told cheering supporters.

Tsvangirai said in the past the greatest weapon of Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party was fear and intimidation. He urged supporters not to be afraid of "the last gasp of dictatorship".

"The road we have trodden has been difficult and painful. Our anger, our hunger and our suffering have made us strong. We have arrived at the place we have yearned for. The time for the change everyone wants is now," said the trade unionist.

The opposition is expected to suffer from the fact that at least four million Zimbabweans now live abroad. They are mostly fugitives from the nation's economic meltdown and political exiles who would be natural opposition supporters. They are not permitted to vote by mail -- despite opposition demands that they should be allowed.

Even so, Tsvangirai and Makoni hope to garner enough votes together to deny Mugabe an absolute first-round majority and force him into a second round of voting.

Women at a meeting addressed by Makoni on Saturday complained of a 4 000% increase in the price of life-giving HIV/Aids drugs from Z$30-million in January to Z$1,3-billion (about R325 at the dominant black-market exchange rate) for a month's course of medication.

More than 20% of adults -- about two million people -- in Zimbabwe are estimated to be infected with the virus that causes Aids. At least 80% of the population lives below the poverty line of $1 a day.

Tirade In Bulawayo, Mugabe repeated his usual tirade against former colonial power Britain -- a "miserable" country -- and said Zimbabwe would implement a new rule requiring all foreign and white-owned companies to give
51% ownership to blacks.

"We want to see Zimbabwean people in control," he said. "Our people must be run the businesses. They should not just listen to white bosses."

Five trucks with bags of mealie meal -- the staple maize flour -- were seen at Sunday's rally, reflecting opposition charges that Mugabe is using scarce food as a political tool.

But even that wasn't enough to entice the crowds in Bulawayo, which is regarded as an opposition stronghold -- Mugabe traditionally has solid support in the rural areas.

Belinda (24), an unemployed Bulawayo resident, said she didn't attend Sunday's rally because "it was a waste of my precious time."

"That man has nothing new to say," she said, declining to give her last name for fear of victimisation. "I am jobless; there is no water, there is no food, so why bother?"

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