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Mugabe to launch re-election bid
23/02/2008 14:12 - (SA)
Beitbridge, Zimbabwe - Thousands of supporters of Zimbabwe's veteran leader Robert Mugabe gathered on Saturday for a three trillion Zimb-dollar birthday bash in the southern border town of Beitbridge.
Mugabe is set to launch his campaign for a sixth term in power in a speech at the climax of his 84th birthday celebrations to boost his backers' morale, affected by a crumbling economy with hyperinflation at a whopping 100 000% in January and chronic shortages of basic commodities.
While Mugabe will seek to rally support at Beitbridge, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is to launch its own manifesto for the joint presidential and parliamentary polls set for March 29, in the eastern town of Mutare.
Across the border from Beitbridge, in South African Musina, some 300 Zimbabean in exile called for "free and fair elections".
'Ordinary people are suffering'
"Mugabe is celebrating, across there in Beitbridge", said Reverend Peter Nkululeko, one of the demonstrators.
"Yet ordinary people are suffering. Infrastructures have collapsed, yet he is spending millions for his birthday party".
The ruling party ZANU-PF has officially raised Z$3 trillion Zimbabwean dollars (about R9m at the parallel market rate) to finance the celebrations.
A loaf of bread, when available, costs about Z$5m.
The octogenarian president arguably faces one of his lowest points as he is challenged for the presidency by his former finance minister Simba Makoni, whom he recently labelled a "prostitute".
Makoni announced three weeks ago he would take on Mugabe in the presidential elections, saying he had decided to run after consulting fellow members of the ZANU-PF and others over the country's economic ruin.
Independent presidential candidate
He was expelled from the party last week but confirmed by a special nominations court as an independent presidential candidate.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai is also among the candidates taking on Mugabe, in a four-horse race including an obscure independent challenger, Langton Towungana.
In Mutare, thousands of MDC supporters were trying to gain entry to an already packed stadium where Tsvangirai was expected to launch its campaign programme.
The main fraction of the party was also to present its candidates for the joint presidential, legislative, senate and local council polls.
"We are tired of this suffering. We want change", said one man among the crowd converging on the stadium, who refused to give his name.
Once a formidable force, the MDC is now torn into two factions following a row over senate elections.
A bid to close their ranks and forge a united front against Mugabe flopped three weeks ago over the allocation of constituencies.
The leader of the smaller faction, Arthur Mutambara, said he would back Makoni's bid for presidency.
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Zimbabwe Special Report
