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Opposition reunites to take on Mugabe
The two warring factions of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, have agreed to reunite and back a single election candidate against President Robert Mugabe.
- By Stephen Bevan, The Telegraph Group Limited
- Published: 00:11 January 28, 2008
Pretoria: The two warring factions of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, have agreed to reunite and back a single election candidate against President Robert Mugabe.
Under the plan, Morgan Tsvangirai, the party's leader, would be their presidential candidate in the elections that Mugabe announced on Friday would be held on March 29.
Both factions of the MDC have been calling for the elections to be postponed until after the introduction of a new constitution, which has already been agreed between their negotiators and the ruling Zanu-PF party.
They also want a new and independent electoral commission and voters' roll, and the redrawing of electoral boundaries - moves that, they say, are essential for free and fair elections. However, Mugabe has refused, accusing the opposition of being unwilling to face him at the polls. His decision to bring the election date forward will be the final nail in the coffin of mediation efforts between the MDC and Zanu-PF, undertaken by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
The MDC will formally decide whether to take part at the end of this week when its supreme decision-making body, the national council, meets.
Meanwhile, the two sides, one led by Tsvangirai, the other by Professor Arthur Mutambara, have reached broad agreement on reunification in the face of fierce repression and deteriorating living conditions.
Tough living conditions
Fires caused by candles during Zimbabwe's frequent power outages have destroyed homes because firefighters have also been unable to find water, the state Sunday Mail reported.
In one incident, in suburban northern Harare, a candle set curtains alight and an occupant tore down them down and threw them outside, onto drums being used to store gasoline. The house was gutted, with only a bed recovered from the ruins, the paper said.
In the second, gasoline was being sold from a house occupied by four families in a western township and caught fire when a candle was lit during an electricity cut, it said. All the occupants escaped without injury. House owner Sothini Chiravasa told the newspaper by the time fire tenders began drawing water from a neighbour's swimming pool the blaze was out of control. "How could they come to put out a fire without water?" she was quoted as saying.
Amid the shortages, gas prices have soared, crippling public transport services and putting regular fares out of the reach of many workers, many of whom have resorted to walking to their jobs.
According to the main labour federation, many workers have formed "walking clubs" from satellite townships into cities that set out as early as 4 am and cover more than 20 kilometres a day.
The Sunday Mail quoted office employee Grace Choruma saying she sold peanut butter and other items to her workmates to help pay her commuter fares to work.
- AP
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