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Political bigwigs endorse Makoni
01/03/2008 16:04 - (SA)
Bulawayo - Two political heavyweights endorsed former minister Simba Makoni's bid for the Zimbabwean presidency on Saturday - including a serving official with the party of rival candidate President Robert Mugabe.
Dumiso Dabengwa, a former home affairs minister and a member of the ruling Zanu-PF party's key decision making body, became the first ruling party heavyweight to come out in support of Makoni.
Makoni was also backed by Cyril Ndebele, a former speaker of parliament.
Both men joined Makoni to declare their support at a news conference in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo, where Makoni was later to launch his election campaign.
"It's not about Makoni's capability or strength," Dabengwa said.
"It's about the people of Zimbabwe being enabled to chart the manner in which they want the challenges facing the country to be solved."
"We urged him to come forward and clean on the facilitation prcess. We gave him our support and we found that there was no way out but to take this step." Disillusioned cadres
Makoni had previously said that he had the backing of many disillusioned party cadres and compatriots suffering through the current economic crisis.
Makoni, a former key member of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), announced early February he was challenging Mugabe for presidency in general polls on March 29.
He said he had decided to stand for the presidency "following very extensive and intensive consultations with party members and activists countrywide and also with others outside the party".
Makoni could not be drawn on who else inside Zanu-PF would back him.
There has been widespread speculation, however, that at least one other senior figure within the ruling party supports him.
But vice-president Joseph Msika disowned Makoni in comments reported in Saturday's edition of The Herald newspaper. 'Politically bankrupt'
He dismissed Makoni, a former executive secretary of the regional economic bloc SADC, as "politically bankrupt".
"Me, supporting Makoni politically?" he told the newspaper on the sidelines of the launch of the ruling party manifesto and election campaign.
"Makoni is politically bankrupt, I would never want anything from him. If fact, he is the one who would come to me to support me on whatever I would be doing."
Makoni, at his news conference, told reporters he was disappointed with Mugabe's rule.
"Our condition today arises primarily from the failure of national leadership," he said.
His campaign was "a movement for renewal, revival and rededication to service", he added.
Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is hoping to secure a sixth term at a time when Zimbabwe is struggling with an annual inflation rate hovering above 100 000%, the highest in the world.
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