'Anyone anti-Mugabe is ideal'
2008-02-13 12:39
Special Report
A classical music presenter for the BBC has been arrested and is in custody in Zimbabwe.
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday declared that he would work with anyone who opposed the dictatorship of President Robert Mugabe while denouncing former ruling party presidential candidate Simba Makoni as tainted goods.
"Anyone who is prepared to close ranks against Zanu-PF, against Robert Mugabe, we will work with them," Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told a briefing with foreign correspondents in Johannesburg ahead of March elections, which he said he expected would be rigged.
Tsvangirai was responding to questions about whether he was prepared to join forces with popular former finance minister and Zanu-PF member Makoni, who announced earlier this month that he would stand for president against 83-year-old Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president for 28 years.
MDC smaller faction behind Makoni
Makoni's announcement had revitalised the election, which had been billed as a walkover for Mugabe after rival factions within the MDC failed to agree to contest the presidential, parliamentary and local polls under a single banner.
The smaller of the two MDC factions led by Arthur Mutambara was reported to have thrown its support behind Makoni.
Tsvangirai stressed that Makoni, who was formally expelled from the ruling party on Wednesday, was tainted by his association with Mugabe's rule.
"They are guilty by omission and commission," he said of reform-minded figures within Zanu-PF, pointing out that Makoni had sat on Zanu-PF's politburo while the economy went into free fall driving an estimated four million Zimbabweans into exile.
Mugabe's disastrous policies, including his ruinous land reform programme, were blamed for hyperinflation of more than 25 000%, unemployment of about 80% and widespread shortages of basic foods.
Tsvangirai makes plea to Mbeki
But Tsvangirai also acknowledged Makoni's stand, which had drawn threats of violence from war veterans close to Mugabe, was "courageous" and said the MDC was prepared to hold "a principled discussion about the future of the country," with any anti-Mugabe figures.
The opposition leader, whose beating by police during a crackdown on the MDC in March 2007 sparked international outrage, also made an impassioned plea to President Thabo Mbeki not to rubber-stamp the outcome of the March 29 polls.
Tsvangirai urged Mbeki, who was appointed by southern African countries to mediate between Zanu-PF and the MDC on creating the conditions for free and fair elections, to "break with his policy of quiet support for the dictatorship in Zimbabwe".
"If you won't do it for us, if you won't do it for Africa, do it for your own country and for your own legacy," he said, adding Mbeki's assessment that the two sides had reached "full agreement" on key matters was incorrect.
The MDC had threatened to boycott the polls unless they were held under a new draft constitution and the date postponed.
Sapa-dpa
- SAPA