Mugabe looks forward to presidential poll

In a national address on Wednesday to mark Zimbabwe’s 21 years of independence, President Robert Mugabe delivered a speech at Harare’s national stadium that evoked the struggle against colonialism while taking a swipe at the opposition as agents of those who had fought majority rule. In front of a large crowd of mainly ruling party supporters, Mugabe said ZANU-PF had won independence from Britain in 1980, but the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) risked throwing it away. In a speech that seemed to have an eye on next year’s presidential elections, he accused the party of being “shadows of the whites” and warned that political violence from the MDC in the run up to the poll would be met by an equal response from the government. Last June’s general elections were marred by ZANU-fomented political violence and intimidation, poll observers said, and the results in more than 30 constituencies are being contested by MDC. Mugabe also accused Britain of political interference: “I say to Britain, here and now, ‘hands off’, don’t keep interfering with our sovereign rights.” He added that the government’s controversial farm acquisition programme would continue and was aimed at addressing the “iniquity” of unbalanced land ownership in the country. The economic empowerment of black Zimbabweans through the seizure of white commercial farms would allow them to at last enjoy “the real fruits of independence”. Mugabe’s speech, however, was overshadowed by an announcement on Tuesday that he would stand as ZANU-PF’s candidate for the 2002 presidential elections. Since the party’s narrow victory against the MDC in June’s legislative polls, reports had suggested that he was under pressure from senior ZANU-PF members - who considered him a political liability - to step aside. But in an interview on state television he said he would only consider retiring once he had led the party to victory. “I can’t go to rest and actually have peace of mind if my party is going to lose the election. The prospect of winning must be there,” he said. ZANU-PF member Stalin Mau-Mau said Mugabe’s decision would strengthen the party. Mau-Mau, who was a victim of the MDC’s electoral rout of urban areas last June, told IRIN that by standing, Mugabe would avoid a potential power vacuum in ZANU. “It’s important that we go into the presidential elections more united than before.” Denying that Mugabe was ZANU’s weak link, he added that “a lot has changed since the general elections”. But MDC national youth chairman Nelson Chamisa said that Mugabe’s decision was a “political bonus” for his party. “We take this news jubilantly, we’re going to thrash him hard,” he told IRIN. MDC MP Tafedzwa Musekiwa was similarly upbeat about his party’s chances of defeating Mugabe, but warned that political intimidation would reach new levels next year. “We’re very concerned because as a person he’s a violent man ... but the people of this country have a history of resistance.”