Zimbabwe
Mugabe to contest Zimbabwean 2002 presidential elections

misanet.com / IPS, 16 December - The ruling Zanu PF party dashed the hopes of many Zimbabweans when delegates to it's three-day special congress, which ended in Harare yesterday, endorsed President Robert Mugabe as the party's leader "until the land issue has been resolved." The party's decision put to rest speculation that 76-year-old Mugabe, one of Africa's longest-serving rulers, was now preparing to leave the political stage.

The congress took place whilst Zimbabwe is going through its worst economic nightmare with the inflation rate pegged at 58 percent, unemployment above 60 percent and the local currency - currently standing at 55 against the US dollar - is expected to be further devalued next week.

The country is also suffering a critical shortage of foreign currency, which has resulted in a crippling fuel crisis and high poverty levels, as businesses scale down operations or close down completely. The International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the European Union, have suspended aid to Zimbabwe until the government restores the rule of law.

Zimbabwe's problems have been blamed on one man: Mugabe, currently shunned by the international community because of his anti-white crusade and unpopular land reform programme where he incited Zanu PF militia and veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war to grab white-owned commercial farms.

In tandem with the commercial farm takeovers, Zanu PF in April launched its campaign for the June Parliamentary election, to capture votes. At least 31 people were killed while hundreds of homes were looted in the ensuing violence against the supporters of the opposition accused of leading the campaign to reject a draft constitution complied by a government-appointed commission led by Judge President Godfrey Chidyausiku. 

The political unrest saw hundreds of families displaced from their homes in communal lands and ending up as internal refugees living in safe houses in Harare. 

In a move, that was viewed as condoning the violence, Mugabe issued a blanket amnesty for perpetrators of violence during and after the June parliamentary election. The pardon was condemned by churches, human rights organisations and foreign donors and governments.

Mugabe's government has condoned lawlessness on white-owned commercial farms where Zanu PF militia and war veterans are disrupting production. The government has defied a Supreme Court ruling declaring its "fast-track" land reform programme illegal and impelling the police to restore order.

As the Zanu PF congress progressed, Zimbabweans thought Mugabe would do the honourable thing and step down. Instead, on Tuesday, Zanu PF proposed Mugabe as the party's candidate for the presidential election to held in 2002.

In a vote of thanks after Mugabe's keynote address at the congress, co-vice-President, Simon Muzenda, made an impassioned plea for Mugabe not to step down likening him to the biblical Moses. Mugabe, he said, was sent by God to deliver Zimbabwean blacks from colonial domination.

Co-vice President, Joseph Msika told delegates: "This is a major empowerment programme to redress land redistribution imbalances. Our national leader has a national responsibility to see this empowerment programme through to its logical conclusion."

In his address, Mugabe attacked Zimbabwe's whites accusing them of sabotaging the country's economy. "They think because they are white, they have a divine right to our resources. Not here. Never again," Mugabe said.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) dismissed the Zanu PF congress as a non-event. "In failing to address the succession issue the Zanu PF congress failed to appreciate that the nation is at one in that Robert Mugabe is the country's biggest liability," the party said in a statement. "Confidence can never return to the nation unless the issues of the rule of law, fiscal discipline and the political will to do and see that people reclaim their power are restored.

- The congress failed to address itself to the fundamental issues leading to the current economic meltdown seeking instead to transfer blame on to the democratic alternatives in the form of the opposition. The race issue has not been spared either.

Political commentator, Lovemore Madhuku said with Mugabe as Zanu PF's candidate, the opposition would face an awesome task in the 2002 Presidential election. "Zanu PF will be more difficult to beat in the election because Mugabe can sanction anything, even violence, to win the election," Madhuku said.

By Walter Tsuro, IPS

 

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