'Tsvangirai asked for beating'

'Tsvangirai asked for beating' - Mugabe

MUGABE is welcomed by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete shortly after touchdown in Tanzania

MUGABE and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete

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By Susan Njanji

A DEFIANT Robert Mugabe openly acknowledged an assault on Zimbabwe's opposition leader Friday as he sought his ruling party's nomination to stand once again in next year's presidential election.

The veteran president, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, told supporters he had not received one word of criticism from his fellow southern African leaders at a summit the day before after telling them his arch rival Morgan Tsvangirai had "deserved to be assaulted" earlier this month.

However in a rare admission of divisions within his Zanu PF party, the 83-year-old told members to keep quarrels in-house and not to feed the appetite of a hostile media.

The Zanu PF central committee is expected to rubberstamp a decision by its politburo earlier this week to enable him to stand in elections in 2008 which the opposition has indicated it will not contest over rigging fears.

Mugabe, widely blamed for the political and economic crisis rocking Zimbabwe, would remain president until the age of 90 if he were to be re-elected and serve a full six-year term.

While there have been rumblings of discontent within ZANU-PF towards Mugabe, no-one has so far put their head above the parapet to challenge his nomination.

Opposition within Zimbabwe has soared in recent weeks with inflation now the highest in the world at 1,730 percent and four out of five people out of work.

He was also widely condemned by the West for the arrests and assaults of senior members of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change this month as they tried to stage an anti-government rally.

But addressing supporters in Shona as he arrived at the meeting, Mugabe was unapologetic about the assault on MDC leader Tsvangirai.

"Yes, I told them he was beaten but he asked for it," Mugabe said of Thursday's summit of the Southern African Development Community in Tanzania.

"We got full backing, not even one (SADC leader) criticised our actions," the veteran president continued.

Any hopes of the MDC that SADC would stand up publicly to Mugabe were dashed when leaders expressed "solidarity" with his government, called for the lifting of Western sanctions and chose South African President Thabo Mbeki to act as a mediator.

Mugabe has tried to blame Zimbabwe's economic woes on the West, although the sanctions programme currently in place only targets Mugabe and his inner circle by restricting their travel and freezing their bank accounts.

The choice of Mbeki to try to promote dialogue between the Zimbabwean government and opposition was also likely to have pleased Mugabe given that he has consistently refused to publicly criticise his northern neighbour.

The MDC said it was prepared to meet with Zanu PF representatives under Mbeki's mediation but held out little hope for the dialogue.

"Even if you have dialogue tomorrow, how does that reduce inflation from 1,730 percent to say two percent, or reduce an unemployment rate of 80 per cent," MDC secretary general Tendai Biti said.

The parlous state of the economy has led to some analysts to speculate Mugabe may face a challenge from within but the president said anyone who wished to criticise him should do so through party structures.

"Whatever the nature of the differences or quarrels we have it is completely wrong to allow them to get into the public arena," he told the central committee.

"Several of us are keeping the hostile press going and sometimes going through the revelation of information that should be kept secret. Let us begin to examine our conscience and our integrity."

He also laughed off any suggestion his regime was near to collapse.

"Both governments of Bush and Blair think we have reached what they term a tipping point because of the hardships wrought by the illegal sanctions they have imposed on us ... They are gravely mistaken." - AFP

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