| Submit your comments on this article |
| Africa Subsaharan |
| Dabengwa Backs Tsvangirai, as if it matters |
| 2008-06-16 |
| Former Home Affairs Minister, Dumiso Dabengwa has thrown his weight behind the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of the 27 June presidential election run-off. In the 29 March poll, he backed Simba Makoni, who came third. Dabengwa declared his position last Friday as three provinces of Makoni's Kusile/Mavambo project --Matabeleland North and South and Bulawayo -- met to strategise ahead of the run-off, which pits Tsvangirai against President Robert Mugabe. The former Zipra commander's stance, which differs sharply with Makoni's proposal of a negotiated settlement, is likely to be adopted by the provinces at the workshop that ends today. This is likely to boost Tsvangirai's campaign as the bulk of Makoni's eight percent of the vote came from Matabeleland after Dabengwa ended up as the only Zanu PF heavyweight to openly support the former finance minister. Dabengwa said although they felt that Makoni's campaign was let down by the failure of his high-profile backers in Zanu PF to come out in the open ahead of the election, there was no chance he would return to Zanu PF. "We have tried to push for the cancellation of the run-off because Zimbabweans spoke loudly that no candidate could go it alone and there was a need for a government of national unity," Dabengwa said. "The MDC was agreeable to the talks and the Zanu PF people that we spoke to agreed but none of them had the guts to approach Mugabe with the proposals." The former Zanu PF politburo member said talks on a government of national unity were doomed. "This is why, personally, I am saying it is better to prepare for the run-off by going back to our pledge to the people not to support Mugabe, no matter what." On the nature of the campaign he said there were concerns from the Kusile co-ordinators in the provinces that if they campaigned openly they would become targets of political violence engulfing the country. The MDC says at least 65 of its supporters have been murdered and tens of thousands others displaced by Zanu PF militias campaigning for Mugabe. "A decision will be made at this workshop on how we will conduct the campaign but strong views have come out that we must not be reckless in the way we do things as we might also become targets," he said. He said as a former ZIPRA commander he had tried to reason with war veterans in Matabeleland not to join the terror campaign against villagers who were backing the MDC. Levels of violence similar to those in most Mashonaland provinces would be unfortunate for people of Matabeleland who are still recovering from the Gukurahundi massacres that claimed the lives of more than 20 000 civilians, he added. |
| Posted by:Steve White |