Harare - President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU(PF) party
announced Thursday that it had expelled Simba Makoni, a member of the
party's politburo and former finance minister, after he announced
that he was challenging the 83-year-old leader in presidential
elections scheduled for late March.
'Once one stands up and declares himself an independent candidate,
that person would have expelled himself from the party,' party
secretary for legal affairs Emmerson Munangagwa was quoted as saying
in the state-controlled Herald newspaper. 'Makoni has expelled
himself from the party. I say that without fear or favour.'
Makoni, 57, a senior official of the party since the mid-1970s, a
long-serving cabinet minister and respected administrator regarded as
the 'acceptable face' of Mugabe's party, announced Tuesday that he
was standing as a presidential candidate in national elections on
March 29 because of the 'failure of national leadership' under Mugabe
that had led to 'extreme hardships' and 'agony and anguish' among all
Zimbabweans.
He said he had hoped that the ruling party congress in December
would 'usher in change' from Mugabe, the head of the government
since independence in 1980 and of the party since 1974, but said he
instead emerged disappointed in the 'failure' of the congress to
allow a change in leadership.
At the congress, Mugabe and his top officials allowed only Mugabe
to be nominated as the party's presidential candidate, barred debate
and did not take a vote. The move caused political observers to say
that Mugabe had adopted the role of de-facto 'president for life.'
It was not clear whether Munangagwa's statement was a result of a
formal resolution of the politburo, but he said Makoni had 'violated
the constitution.' He added that 'there were frantic efforts to split
ZANU(PF) by the British and the Americans.'
An alleged conspiracy by the two governments to overthrow Mugabe
and to recolonize the country has been a constant refrain of the
party's propaganda organs, which have also blamed the West for the
Zimbabwean economy's collapse amid inflation estimated at 150,000 per
cent.
The state media made much of the presence of officials of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change and of the British and
American embassies at Makoni's press conference at which he made the
announcement of his presidential bid.
Ironically, Munangagwa himself narrowly escaped expulsion from the
party in 2005 when he was named at the head of a plot to stop Mugabe
unilaterally choosing a successor. Instead, he was demoted as
minister of a specially created department of rural housing. Since
then, however, he has risen again and has returned to Mugabe's
favour.
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