ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugage tells a rally that a split in his ZANU-PF party will hand the coming election to the opposition MDC party

Record ID: 212794

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugage tells a rally that a split in his ZANU-PF party will hand the coming election to the opposition MDC party
  • Date: 24th March 2008
  • Summary: BULAWAYO STREET
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Zimbabwe
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC1G5CE9IQ1RXXABEZHDY8CXVD
  • Story Text: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugage tells a rally that a split in his ZANU-PF party will hand the coming election to the opposition MDC party.
    Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe told a rally on Sunday (March 23) that he expects to lose the next election.
    The controversial leader indicated that fractures in his party will hand the election oto Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party.

    "This time we are sure the MDC is going to win, ZANU-PF is split, split into two and some of the top leaders have left, Makoni has left, Ndumiso has left, so the party is in two, I say aah, you are cheating yourself, the people, the people have refused," Mugabe told supporters in Bulawayo.
    The 84-year-old leader is seeking re-election for another five-year term in a presidential race in which he faces former finance minister Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, who leads the main faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
    Mugabe, a former liberation hero in power since independence in 1980, took his election campaign to Bulawayo on the final stretch to the March 29 general election, the biggest challenge to his rule since he took office.
    Mugabe has often resorted to a strategy of attacking his Western foes, mainly Britain, in a bid to deflect attention away from an economy critics say he has left in tatters, analysts say.
    The combative leader repeated threats to punish British companies that still operate in Zimbabwe for what he said was London's continued meddling in the country's internal affairs.
    Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF has lost seats to the MDC in Harare and other major towns in elections since 2000, but the veteran leader has promised his government would ease prices of basic goods. He donated public buses and pledged to equip crumbling hospitals.
    Urban workers have borne the brunt of an economic crisis that has sent inflation past 100,000 percent -- the world's highest -- and resulted in shortages of food, fuel, water and electricity.
    Mugabe said foreign-owned companies would be compelled to cede majority stakes to local blacks, adding that businesses were hiking prices to turn voters against his government.
    MDC leader Tsvangirai has told his supporters to keep a close watch on polling stations the election to stop what he said was a bid by Mugabe's to rig the vote.
    Tsvangirai charged that Mugabe had stolen past elections but vowed that his fractured party would fight any fraud in the March 29 vote.
    Tsvangirai's MDC came close to ousting Mugabe from power in parliamentary elections in 2000 and in a presidential vote in 2002 but his credentials have been questioned since a serious split in MDC ranks in 2005 over strategy.
    The former trade unionist, whose MDC enjoys majority support in urban areas, said in his speech punctuated by anti-Mugabe slogans that he was not cowed by threats from some senior defence forces chiefs that they may not accept his victory.
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