Mugabe 'too old' to run government

Mugabe 'too old' to run government - Dabengwa

CONCERN: Dabengwa says Mugabe often loses concentration at important meetings

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By Fikile Mapala

DUMISO Dabengwa has said Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe is too old to run the country and often loses concentration at key meetings.

Dabengwa, a member of the Zanu PF politburo until he quit three weeks ago to join another rebel, Simba Makoni, who is running for president as an independent, said he had taken the decision after realising the party’s leadership was “getting too old to run a government”.

Dabengwa said: “When I first worked with him, he would be punctual to appointments. He would pay attention to detail and would discuss things for over an hour or two. We used to hold very intelligent discussions with him giving me his piece of mind and I would come out of his office satisfied.

“But as time moved on, the man would start missing appointments. Sometimes only making himself available for around 10 or 20 minutes when the issues needed more time. Sometimes he would just lose concentration during a serious meeting.”

Dabengwa, speaking to reporters at a press club in Harare on Wednesday night, said he had discovered that “the law of diminishing returns” was now affecting Mugabe’s way of discharging his duties.

The former home affairs minister said Mugabe had steadily degenerated from an effective firebrand and astute leader to a political ramshackle as a result of old age which was taking its toll.

He added: “I realised the man was getting old and government responsibilities were becoming a burden to him.”

Mugabe, who turned 84 in February, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from British colonial rule in 1980. He has presided over a crumbling economy and record inflation pegged at 100 580 percent.

Dabengwa, who was jailed without trial for four years between 1982 and 1986, said the Makoni project was a “rescue mission” engineered by senior Zanu PF officials after realising that Mugabe was clinging to power unconstitutionally.

He claimed that 60 percent of the powerful Zanu PF politburo and central committee members were in full support of Makoni’s candidature, despite public pronouncements indicating otherwise.

Dabengwa clarified that he had not joined Makoni as widely reported by the media, insisting he had been part of the project from the beginning.

He said: “I hear people asking me why I joined Simba, who is junior to me in the party, when I am supposed to have led the operation. Let me clarify that I did not join Simba. I have been in this operation from the start.”

He added: “Simba is our horse. We are not joining Simba. He is only a symbol of our intentions. When you put your horse forward in a race and then you come out to support your horse you are not joining it.”

Dabengwa revealed that in the event that Makoni fails to land the presidency, they would not fold but form a formidable political organisation to contest in the next elections.

He said: “Like any other rescue mission, it can fail. Mine rescue operations have failed elsewhere. Yes it could be one of those. If it fails, we intend to continue fighting. We will structure ourselves into a formidable organisation. We will not fold.”

Dabengwa told journalists that he believed in a transformed Zanu PF with a reformed politburo and central committee to enhance democracy and rejuvenate the ruling party.

He said while there were impediments to a free and fair election being held on March 29, they were “not dangerous flaws if monitored closely”.

Makoni, the MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai and another independent Langton Towungana are challenging Mugabe in elections to be held on March 29.
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