[A-List] Zimbabwe: cracks at the top?

["Michael Keaney" <michael.keaney@xxxxxx>]

We're in crisis, admits Zimbabwe's army chief
By Basildon Peta Southern Africa Correspondent
The Independent
17 January 2003

The commander of Zimbabwe's armed forces has publicly admitted for the first
time that the country is deep in crisis and has recommended a national task
force should resolve the country's emergency.

The powerful head of the Zimbabwe National Army and the Air Force of
Zimbabwe spoke out while most senior politicians, including President Robert
Mugabe, refuse to publicly acknowledge the country is in turmoil. Some blame
the drought for the problems.

Although General Vitalis Zvinavashe reiterated his loyalty to Mr Mugabe,
observers in Zimbabwe saw his statement as a direct confirmation that senior
aides to Mr Mugabe were greatly worried by the country's slide into
perdition and many of them would be relieved if their leader quit.

This week, the general denied hatching a plan to send President Mugabe into
retirement in return for immunity from prosecution. Morgan Tsvangirai, the
opposition leader, said he was approached with the plan by a mediator who
said he was representing General Zvinavashe and Emmerson Mnangagwa, the
Parliamentary speaker.

General Zvinavashe said Zimbabweans had to be told frankly that the country
was in a crisis. "First we must admit there is a crisis," General Zvinavashe
told Business Tribune, a newspaper owned by Mutumwa Mawere, a prominent
businessman with strong links to President Mugabe and the ruling Zanu-PF.
"Everyone can see that. So we must do something about it. It is important
for the nation to be told that we are facing an economic crisis. In my view,
it is not right to keep quiet and let nature take its course."

He called for a national task force involving all branches of government,
"and not necessarily cabinet ministers", to be set up urgently to deal with
what he called an emergency situation in Zimbabwe.

General Zvinavashe did not say whether the task force should include the
opposition but said it must have powers to make substantive decisions that
would not be overturned by civil servants or cabinet ministers. He said the
task force should be supervised by the 79-year-old President.

Lovemore Madhuku, a University of Zimbabwe law professor, said: "It does say
a lot when senior soldiers, the greatest beneficiaries of Mugabe's corrupt
patronage, start admitting things are bad. It also confirms the denied
reports about initiatives to oust Mugabe are not completely unfounded."

General Zvinavashe, who rarely gives press interviews, has attributed those
reports to British propaganda.

In another blow to President Mugabe, the Zimbabwe High Court yesterday
nullified the results of two constituencies won by his party in the bitterly
contested June 2000 parliamentary elections, and accused the ruling party of
having used violence to win the seats.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) narrowly lost to Mr
Mugabe's Zanu-PF and went to court to challenge results in 37
constituencies. Seven Zanu-PF victories have been overturned and three
ruling party election wins upheld.

Judge Rita Makarau said yesterday there was evidence of widespread
intimidation of MDC supporters before the polls. "Properties were destroyed
and burnt as part of the intimidation. The evidence before me can only lead
to the conclusion that free franchise was affected in the constituency and
therefore corrupt practices were committed in the election of the
respondents."