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Africa: Southern | |||||
Mugabe Grooms Ruthless Successor | |||||
2003-07-20 | |||||
Long piece - but worthwhile due to fairly complete background and inclusion of political goodies, such as Bush’s African Safari and Mbecki’s role... ZIMBABWEAN President Robert Mugabe is manoeuvring to ensure a key political ally known as ‘The Butcher of Matabeleland’ is installed as his successor before standing down on his 80th birthday. The prospect of Emmerson Mnangagwa assuming power which would ensure Mugabe avoids a potential trial for human rights abuses and allow him to remain in his palatial home called ‘Gracelands’ will dismay political opponents as he is considered to be even more dangerous than Mugabe himself. Mnangagwa masterminded the slaughter of more than 25,000 civilians opposed to Mugabe in Matabeleland in the mid-1980s and was also largely responsible for the controversial land reform programme that resulted in attacks on white farmers by army veterans who seized their property. Despite mounting speculation by Western diplomats that Mugabe will relinquish power this December, informed sources in Harare told Scotland on Sunday that the Zimbabwean leader has chosen his birthday, February 21, to make his departure from office. "He feels that at the age of 80 he will have a wonderful excuse to step down and hand over to a younger man," a former cabinet minister in Bishop Muzorewa’s short-lived government said.
When President Bush was in South Africa he described Mbeki as "the point man" on Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans in exile in South Africa there are now close on two million of them say that Mbeki remains "highly suspicious" of Tsvangirai. President Mbeki is known to regard the MDC as a creation of white Zimbabwean farmers. The MDC receives funds from wealthy whites with mining and farming interests in Zimbabwe and Mbeki regards Tsvangirai as little more than a puppet manipulated by big business. Mugabe and Mbeki have become close friends since 1999. Basildon Peta, the respected Zimbabwean correspondent in Pretoria, said this week that America recently pledged a "reconstruction" package for Zimbabwe worth up to $10bn (£6.2bn) over an unspecified time frame. The deal, says Peta, was discussed by the two leaders during a private meeting in Pretoria. Opposition politicians fear that now he is America’s "point man" on Zimbabwe, Mbeki will be able to persuade Washington to accept any new leader as long as he demonstrates a desire to "start again" without embarrassing the outgoing Mugabe. Rival contenders: FORMER finance minister SIMBA MAKONI who is known to be the favourite of America and Britain. He opposed Mugabe’s land reform programme which he said would cause inflation to soar and even more unemployment. Makoni is popular with whites in Zimbabwe and big business in South Africa, but he has little support in the townships, from the MDC opposition or from the churches. DUMISO DABENGWA, former home affairs minister, who fought against the Rhodesian forces with the Zimbabwe African People’s Union under Joshua Nkomo. He rose to become the commander of Nkomo’s military forces and was known as the uncrowned king of Matabeleland. A former opponent of Mugabe, he sided with the government after 1987 and lost the support of the young and the MDC opposition. MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, the leader of the main opposition group, the Movement for Democratic Change, is still challenging the result of last year’s contested presidential election through the Zimbabwean courts. The ballot last year gave Mugabe a further six-year term in office but there were claims of vote-rigging and intimidation. The former trade union leader, spent 10 days in prison on treason charges for allegedly plotting to overthrow Mugabe. Africa is one big MoFo swamp. I’d like to see it drained, but don’t want to see a single US trooper lose his life in such an insane mess. Africa is where the PC-Press can use ’quagmire’ freely - I sure as hell won’t object. | |||||
Posted by:PD |
#2 For the things we need to do in the WoT alone, not to mention any other ongoing efforts and what we might need to do in the future, the US must be so clean we squeak. We always need all the credibility we can muster - when push comes to shove in the real world, it saves American lives. Doing business with and accommodating just one dirty bugger like Mbecki and his ilk destroys years of hard work and honest dealings in one fell swoop. C'mon George, Colin - reality check. |
Posted by: PD 2003-7-20 8:44:22 PM |
#1 Do you all notice how much Mbeki loves Bob? S. Africa is the next on the "Golden Goose Murder" parade that characterizes that continent. |
Posted by: Ernest Brown 2003-7-20 1:16:39 PM |