Posted on 03/25/2007 8:55:42 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has urged his supporters to gear up for presidential polls next year, conceding an embarrassing defeat over plans to extend his rule to 2010, analysts said.
"I think the view I am getting is that 2008 is preferable," the New Ziana news agency quoted the veteran leader as telling his party's women's league in Harare on Friday.
"If we are going to have an election, we must start organising and mobilising support now."
Analysts said that by agreeing to elections next year, Mugabe has bowed to opposition from cadres in his Zimbabwe African National Union -- Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) who are opposed to plans to give the him another two-year mandate.
"For the past 27 years, Mugabe always had his way but this time he has admitted defeat from within his party," political commentator Bill Saidi told AFP.
"He is now standing on shaky ground and may not be as confident as he was when he went into the presidential elections in 2002."
The 83-year-old who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980 from Britain indicated he would step down at the end of his current term next year.
But he made an about face last year, insisting that he would stay put if his party was in danger of falling apart. His supporters also proposed extending his term by two years in 2008 to allow concurrent presidential and parliamentary polls.
While the ZANU PF central committee meets in Harare on Wednesday to decide on the proposals, Mugabe appears to have already given in to factions opposed to the extension of his rule.
"Now we are tending towards an election next year rather than an election in 2010," Mugabe was quoted as saying by the Windhoek-based Southern Times newspaper two weeks ago.
"That's what I am getting from quite a good many top leaders."
Masvingo State University analyst Takavafira Zhou said that although Mugabe appeared to have suffered a setback, he still represented a potent political force.
"This is an embarrassment for Mugabe, having to give in to opposition from within the ranks of his own party," he said.
"But while this is an embarrassing defeat for Mugabe, the opposition should remain sceptical rather than become complacent.
"Even though he has suffered defeat by his own people, Mugabe can still win presidential elections next year.
"He realises if we hold elections in 2008, unless we change the constitution to facilitate the holding of free and fair elections and the electoral laws amended and the voters' rolls updated to ensure there is no rigging, the chances for him to win by rigging are very high."
Zhou said the main feeling in ZANU-PF was that Mugabe should step down in 2008.
Mugabe has lashed out on several occasions at senior officials of his party who were jostling to succeed him. He has repeatedly said there is no vacancy for the presidency.
When Joyce Mujuru was elevated to vice-president in December 2004, Mugabe appeared to have anointed her as his successor, saying she was "destined for higher office".
But relations with Mujuru appear to have significantly cooled, and she was noticeably absent from Mugabe's birthday celebrations last month.
She was reported last week to have made a secret visit to neighbouring South Africa where she held private talks with her counterpart, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe addresses the ruling party suppoters (ZANU PF) at the party's headquarters in Harare 23 March 2007. Mugabe has urged his supporters to gear up for presidential polls next year, conceding an embarrassing defeat over plans to extend his rule to 2010, analysts said.(AFP/File/Desmond Kwande)
Mugabe Shrine under Construction in Zimbabwe
The Zimbabwe government announced plans to build a massive shrine to President Robert Mugabe in the President’s home district of Zvimba. A senior government source said that Mugabe wants construction of the shrine to start as soon as possible. The Zimbabwean dictator has already instructed the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to raise US$400 000 in foreign currency to buy elephant dung for the project.
Local Government Minister Ignatius Chombo, who has been selected to oversee the construction of the shrine, said the project is his top priority. “Look, President Mugabe is 83 years-old,” Chombo observed. “He can’t last much longer. It’s important to get this done before he’s gone. Otherwise, I see no way it can be done.”
Chombo said he has conferred with Mugabe and is confident he understands his mission. “President Mugabe is anxious that his people have an impressive statue of him that they can pull down once he is out of power,” Chombo said. “He told me he wants to join the ranks of notables like Stalin and Lenin whose people had the pleasure of tearing down their statues. To ordinary people this may sound crazy, but that is why they are ordinary while President Mugabe is great.”
In related news, Zimbabwe’s inflation rate is expected to top 5000% this year. Currency that was worth one dollar at the beginning of the year will be worth about two cents by the end of the year. The regime attributes this accomplishment to its program to “stamp out capitalistic materialism.” “Money is the root of all evil,” said Finance Minister Umbe Beggarbo. “We are destroying this evil to save our people from the temptations of wealth.”
Is anybody really going to run against him and if so win?
LOL
Those elections are a joke. Mugabe goes out feet first and the sooner the better.
In other words he can win in 2008 if he rigs the elections?
Firstly the correct quote is "The love of money is the root of all evil" - which is quite different. I'm sure the people of Zimbabwe are grateful that their wealth is being destroyed to stop that temptation. ( Has Scrappleface got the PR contract from the government there - it's absolutely beyond satire.)
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