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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Zim ex-finance minister launches political party |
| 2009-07-02 |
| [Mail and Globe] Zimbabwe's former finance minister Simba Makoni on Wednesday launched a new opposition party that promises to "clean up" the country's political landscape. I'm not sure that, as Zim's former finance minister, I'd try running on a record of "proven accomplishment." Stick with "change." ...and "hope" Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD), meaning "The Beginning of a New Dawn" in the Shona language, was launched at a low-key event in Mbare township, southwest of Harare. "We are launching this party on a mission to clean up the politics of Zimbabwe," Makoni, who is the party's interim leader, told a group of supporters. "We offer ourselves to support and assist the inclusive government, we have resources at our disposal so that Zimbabwe can get working again," said Makoni. In 2001 Makoni publicly admitted that Zimbabwe's economy was in a state of crisis as poverty was spreading at an alarming rate. "I would have to be foolish to deny what is evident to everybody in broad daylight, even in the darkness of night," he said at the time. The following year he quit his position as finance minister, citing policy differences with President Robert Mugabe. The 59-year-old Makoni has been denounced by Mugabe as a "prostitute" of the West and a "bloated frog" following his resignation from the Zanu-PF in 2008. He then wanted to contest the controversial March 2008 presidential election as an independent candidate. |
| Posted by:Fred |