Ndlovu calls Makoni a 'sellout'

Ndlovu calls Makoni a 'sellout'

ZIMBABWE'S Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono seen here with Simba Maakoni during a presentation of the monetary policy statement earlier this year

ZIMBABWE'S Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono (left) seen here with Simba Makoni during a presentation of the monetary policy statement earlier this year

• Mugabe to stay for 6 more years - Mutasa

• Mugabe claims 'successive victories' over Britain

• Zanu PF backs Mugabe's 2008 candidature

• 'Tsvangirai asked for beating' - Mugabe

• Mugabe faces SADC leaders ahead of kep party meeting

• Mujuru in secret meetings with SA's VP

• Tsvangirai will never rule - Mugabe

• Mugabe hints at seeking new term

• Tekere claims Mugabe wanted Mujuru as president

• Zimbabwe may break stalemate - think tank

• Mujuru snubs Mugabe bash as rebellion grows

• ZBC censored Mugabe interview

• What Mugabe said in birthday interview

• Mugabe says 'no vacancy' for his job

• Mugabe considers a 'dignified exit'

• Jethro Mpofu: Mugabe has chance for dignified exit

By Staff Reporter

ZANU PF's internecine fighting reached a new low on Thursday after Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu labelled the country's ex-finance minister and rumoured presidential hopeful Simba Makoni a "sellout", and likened him to the Rhodesian Selous Scouts.

In an unprecedented attack, Ndlovu accused Makoni of "embracing the neo-liberal agenda" of western countries after he reportedly told the World Economic Forum in Cape Town last week that "change" was imminent in Zimbabwe.

Makoni told the WEF last week that there was a grasp within Zanu PF that a rebuilding process had to take place in Zimbabwe.

He said: "However, there is a process under way within the party and within the country and with our neighbours for a solution to be found.

"There is engagement within the nation that the current state of affairs cannot and must not go on."

Makoni has long been seen as a likely successor to President Robert Mugabe, 83. Factional fighting in Zanu PF has largely pitted Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa against Vice President Joice Mujuru.

Makoni, who also commands support within Zanu PF, is seen as having a cross-appeal among the party's faithful, but is generally favoured by young "technocrats" within the party.

He served as Zimbabwe's finance minister but quit in August 2002 after clashing with President Robert Mugabe, most of the disagreements centred on the devaluation of the country's currency which Mugabe strongly opposed.

Makoni, who had been enlisted to help rebuild the country's shattered economy, also found himself increasingly isolated as Mugabe hardened his stance toward western donor nations and the International Monetary Fund.

Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, is showing no signs of relinquishing his post after recently amending his party's constitution to allow him to contest presidential elections next year. The move has not gone down well within his own party.

With the opposition bitterely divided and weak, and Mugabe's international reputation in tatters, foreign diplomats are said to be looking at Zanu PF internal reforms to bring a change of government.

Seizing on Makoni's presence at the WEF, Zimbabwe's state media -- which is unwaveringly loyal to Mugabe's government -- accused him of working with Western nations in supporting a "strategy to bring the economy to its knees".

The plan, reports the Chronicle newspaper, "is to topple the government before the March 2008 general elections, which the West knows the opposition could never win."

The paper added: "A top-secret document outlining the grand plan says the Western governments have — through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank — set up a vast network of regime-change agents, dubbed the Fishmongers Group, that will spearhead acts of economic sabotage against Zimbabwe.

"A key point made by the IMF as part of the Fishmongers plot is that the Zimbabwe dollar must be sent 'into a free-fall for some time'. This, the institution says, is 'a big bang approach'."

The Chronicle claimed "one ruling party official" had told the WEF that "change" was looming in the country, which the paper said was in sync with recent utterances by US ambassador Christopher Dell predicting that "inflation will hit 1,5 million percent this year, sweeping away the government".

Dell is quoted as saying: "The spin will be too fast. No economic tool can stop it."

Sources who attended the WEF meeting said the only "ruling party official" present was Simba Makoni, who was "very reluctant to take part in discussions over Zimbabwe".

Without naming him, Ndlovu said Makoni had the country's democracy to thank that no action was being taken against him.

He told the Chronicle: "In any revolution there are sell-outs. However, you would expect that a member of a party would know what channels to use to air out their grievances if they do not see eye-to-eye with the leader of their party.

"But then you see that is the sort of democracy that we have in this country, that you can say what you want against government outside the country and come back and still eat your lunch and supper nicely."

Ndlovu went on to say that "even in the (liberation) struggle there were sell-outs and some of the Selous Scouts were blacks,’’ reference to a special forces regiment of the Rhodesian Army which operated from 1973 until the introduction of majority rule and Zimbabwe's independence in 1980.

Zimbabwe is going through its worst economic crisis in history, marked by record inflation. The country's official inflation is 4,500% but independent economists and retailers say it is really above 11,000% and picking up speed.

The black market rate for the Zimbabwean dollar has slumped, from Z$160,000 to the pound last week to more than Z$400,000. It collapsed further on Wednesday, tumbling to more than Z$300,000 to the dollar. The official exchange rate is 15,000-1.

President Mugabe accuses Western countries of imposing sanctions against Zimbabwe in a bid to weaken his government and spring the opposition, which he accuses of puppetry, into power. The opposition points to government corruption and economic mismanagement as the causes of the crisis.

JOIN THE DEBATE ON THIS ARTICLE ON THE NEWZIMBABWE.COM FORUMS
newsdesk@newzimbabwe.com