Gloom as Zimbabwe marks independence anniversary

Gloom as Zimbabwe marks independence anniversary

• Mugabe warns on unrest, says economy reviving

• Mutambara: a technocratic challenge for Zimbabwe

• Mugabe says critics playing with fire

• Poverty bites as Zimbabwe marks self rule

• Mutambara: we can run where others walked

• Tsvangirai: 26 years of chaos and trauma

• On the question of an unfinished revolution

• Nobuhle Nyathi: Matshazi's mind frozen in bad theories

• Your Shouts!: Kwinjeh ridiculed Africans

• Tony Namate: Matshazi's abject Pan-Africanism

• Julius Dewa: Mugabe has scathed African pride

• Matshazi: 'Kwinjeh ridiculed Africans'

• Mugabe's celebratory rant as Zim turns 25

• Zim gone 25 years backwards, says MDC

• Kwinjeh: Happy birthday to an unfinished revolution

• No cheer as Zim turns 24

• Independence war mass graves found

• Mugabe calls on exiles to return

By Cris Chinaka

ZIMBABWE marks 27 years of independence this week, but for many the celebration will be overshadowed by the country's economic meltdown and a political crisis over President Robert Mugabe's plans to remain in power.

Mugabe, 83, who has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980, is accused by his critics of wrecking the southern African state by pursuing controversial policies and rigging major elections in the last seven years.

Political analysts say Mugabe's decision to seek another five-year term in 2008 -- which would extend his tenure to 33 years -- has compounded a national crisis.

Zimbabwe will mark its independence anniversary on Wednesday with rallies, military displays and sports festivities around the country. Mugabe will address the main rally in Harare.

But for the majority of the population, the focus will be their daily struggle to put food on the table.

"I don't think there is any question of people wishing to go back to colonialism or white racist rule, but for many of us these celebrations have become muted because we are worrying about survival," said Alec Banda, a salesman in a Harare shoe shop.

"It's food, rent, transport, school fees ... and in the end, that's what is occupying your mind, and you have no time to think about these things," he said when asked whether he was going to this year's independence festivities.

Critics say Mugabe should accept responsibility for an economic crisis that has seen Zimbabwe's inflation top 1,700 percent and unemployment soar above 80 percent as urban residents struggle with shortages of food, fuel and power.

Zimbabwe has the highest inflation rate in the world, and the World Bank says the southern African state has the fastest shrinking economy outside a war zone.

Mugabe says he is not to blame for Zimbabwe's economic problems, pointing instead at what he calls illegal sanctions by Western opponents in retaliation for his seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks.

Analysts say Zimbabwe's future looks bleak due to the economic woes and a government onslaught on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which it accuses of launching a "terrorist campaign" to oust Mugabe.

While South African President Thabo Mbeki is trying to mediate in the Zimbabwe crisis on behalf of the 14-member Southern African Development Community, a solution is likely to be some way off, they say.

"The future looks gloomy in the short term because the economic meltdown is accelerating ... and the general elections next year will make compromises more difficult," said Eldred Masunungure, a political science professor at the University of Zimbabwe in Harare.

A police crackdown on Mugabe's opponents, which left some opposition figures with broken limbs and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai with head and facial wounds, has sparked a storm of international condemnation.

But the veteran Zimbabwean leader has remained defiant, telling Western critics to "go hang" and warning the opposition about playing "monkey games" with his government.

Despite talk of some growing opposition to his leadership within his own Zanu PF movement, Mugabe last month won his party's endorsement to contest new elections next year, and analysts say the wily political operator will not go easily.

"Democratic forces in Zimbabwe have an onerous task ahead," the private weekly Zimbabwe Independent newspaper says in its latest edition in a commentary on how to tackle Mugabe. - Reuters
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