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'I'll introduce new currency'
27/03/2008 08:45 - (SA)
Murewa - Zimbabwe's main opposition leader pledged to revamp the country's crumbling economy by introducing a new currency within six months if he wrests the presidency from Robert Mugabe in weekend elections.
"The economy is dead," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told thousands of drum-beating supporters on Wednesday in Murewa, 80km east of Harare, the capital. "My government will introduce a new currency as a way of improving and stabilising our economy."
A black market trader said one American dollar was fetching Z$50m on Wednesday. Inflation-battered Zimbabweans, battling shortages of basic goods and plummeting living standards, vote in presidential, parliamentary and local council polls on Saturday.
The presidential candidates were Tsvangirai, former Finance Minister Simba Makoni who defied the ruling party to run as an independent, and Mugabe, who had held power since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zim polls 'will be free, fair'
The nation's rural population had traditionally voted for Mugabe in previous elections, which critics, including Tsvangirai, said were flawed.
Zimbabwe had barred international observers from the European Union and the United States from Saturday's vote. Several international media organisations had also been barred from covering the elections.
Opposition legislator David Coltart was pessimistic the vote would be free and fair.
"There may still be surprises though because there is a lot of energy and excitement that we haven't seen since 2000," Coltart said in a telephone interview.
Addressing a crowd of more than 8 000 people in an area considered a ruling party stronghold, Tsvangirai promised to curb mass unemployment and blamed Mugabe's anti-West rhetoric for the country's problems.
Zim people 'interested in basic things'
"He blames everything on (former British Prime Minister) Tony Blair. He has run out of ideas. People in Zimbabwe are more interested in basic things like food and jobs."
Jerry Mapfumo, a 39-year old father of three, said he had walked for 20km for the Tsvangirai rally because he couldn't afford transport costs. He also can't afford to send his children to school, he said.
"The only hope we have lies in that man," Mapfumo said pointing at Tsvangirai as he sang and danced with the ululating crowd.
In its hey day, Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food. Its agriculture-based economy was disrupted when Mugabe launched his agrarian reforms in 2000, forcefully taking fertile land from the country's white minority for distribution to the country's black majority.
Tsvangirai said the land reform had only benefited politicians closer to Mugabe. The president accused British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his predecessor Blair of pushing for "regime change" in Zimbabwe.
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