Zim opposition 'driven by greed'
2005-12-09 13:01
Special Report
Four Chinese men face deportation from Zimbabwe after they were arrested for killing more than 40 tortoises for meat, a report says.
A dusty road leads to the village of Wedza, where veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war eke out a meagre living on their farm cooperative, which after a promising start now brings only despair.
Esigodini - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has said infighting within the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has revealed "the real character" of the opposition party - a party "driven by greed and obsessed with power".
The MDC has split over leader Morgan Tsvangirai's decision to boycott last month's senate elections.
The party is widely seen as posing the stiffest challenge to Mugabe's 25-year hold on power.
"Happily our people can see the real character of the MDC," Mugabe told senior members of his Zanu-PF party on Friday, gathered for the annual congress in Esigodini, in southern Matabeleland province.
"Yesterday they pretended to be national builders, today within their ranks are emerging stories of greed, narrow-mindedness and power obsession."
About 5 000 delegates of the Zanu-PF have converged on Esigodini.
The congress will take stock of the party's victory in the senate polls.
Mugabe said: "Our supremacy was shown when we won a resounding victory... which left candidates of the other parties sprawling as they were overrun by a steamrolling Zanu-PF."
Zanu-PF won 43 of the 50 contested seats in the senate. The MDC picked up seven seats, but the elections were marred by poor turnout.
Mugabe said the victories in former opposition strongholds sent "a clear resonating message to our detractors that this country is not for sale".
The 81-year-old president, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has repeatedly accused the MDC of being puppets of former colonial ruler Britain.
Delegates are also to discuss land reform during the three-day congress and there may be new appointments to senior party positions that will be closely watched for clues about possible contenders to succeed Mugabe, who has said he wants to retire in 2008.
Last year's congress was marred by a party revolt over Mugabe's choice of Joyce Mujuru to be his vice-president, prompting the leader to launch a purge of several senior party officials including six of the 10 provincial party chairpersons.
In his address to the central committee, Mugabe urged supporters to "shun divisive and retrogressive factionalism".
He also indirectly acknowledged that land seized from white farmers under his controversial land reform policy and given to blacks was not yielding the expected output.
"Our focus should now be on effective land utilisation," said Mugabe.
- AFP