Makoni bid: Mugabe blames Brits
05/03/2008 16:46  - (SA)  

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Harare / Johannesburg - Former finance minister Simba Makoni's decision to enter the presidential race is a ploy by former Colonial power Britain to divide Zimbabweans, a state-controlled newspaper on Wednesday reported long time President Robert Mugabe as saying.

Mugabe told ruling Zanu-PF supporters at a rally in Chipinge, eastern Manicaland province, that voters have to "bury British regime-change schemes", the Herald newspaper reported.

Mugabe, 84, has been intensely annoyed by Makoni's decision to challenge him in the March 29 polls.

State media in Zimbabwe this week accused British firm Citigroup of backing Makoni's presidential bid, a claim dismissed as "absolute rubbish" by a company spokesperson.

Makoni maintains he is aiming for leadership change and not regime change in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe government regularly accuses its opponents - including the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), whose leader Morgan Tsvangirai is also standing in the polls - of working in cahoots with Britain to overthrow Mugabe.

At a rally in Bazely Bridge, also in Manicaland, Mugabe said that "the British had identified people within Zanu-PF to work with in causing divisions in the party because it realised the ruling party was a united revolutionary liberation movement that had to be destroyed from within", the Herald said.

Mugabe handed out more than 200 computers to schools in Manicaland and promised farm equipment and food because "food shortages are looming", the report said. - Sapa-dpa

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