Zimbabwe's state media attacks Makoni

Zimbabwe's state media attacks Makoni

AFTER YOUR JOB: Makoni came under attack from Zimbabwe's state media

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ZIMBABWE'S state-controlled media on Wednesday went into action against new presidential candidate Simba Makoni, a former cabinet minister and senior ruling party official, dismissing his ambition as "a loud fart".

They also denounced the former finance minister and respected businessman as having being planted in the election by Western governments to overthrow President Robert Mugabe and install a regime of "Western puppets."

Makoni, 57, who was in Mugabe's first cabinet at independence in 1980, on Tuesday blamed the 83-year-old's "failed leadership" for the catastrophic collapse of the once-prosperous nation's economy.

Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation that has pushed the cost of a banana to over a million Zimbabwe dollars, crippling power and water cuts, dysfunctional hospitals, a dangerously potholed road network after decades of neglect, and famine.

Makoni announced his candidacy Tuesday and declared he would stand as an independent candidate in presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on March 29, promising, if elected, he would "work with elected MPs."

He said he would elaborate further when he announced his election platform.

State radio reacted within hours of his announcement on Tuesday, reporting that he had joined the presidential contest but adding that the presence at his press conference of officials of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and of the British and US embassies "raised suspicions of a hidden hand."

Then Wednesday in the state-run Harare-based daily Herald newspaper, the paper's political editor Caesar Zvayi scorned descriptions of Makoni's announcement as "a bombshell" and said it was more like "the loud fart all silently agree never happened."

"He has been sent to do someone's dirty work," the paper said. "It all shows there is a hand calling the shots."

Since the emergence seven years ago of the MDC, Mugabe's state media relentlessly characterised the party as a "puppet" of the British and US governments.

Every reference to the party's founding leader, former trade unionist Morgan Tsvangirai, is followed by charges that he is given orders directly from London and Washington, using him to bring down Mugabe's regime so that Britain and the US can recolonise the former British possession which gained independence in 1980.

Observers say the ruling party propaganda machine is adopting the same tactic against Makoni.

In its front page report, the Herald said the presence of a British and a US diplomat during Makoni's announcement was "linked to the formation of a new party aimed at unseating the ruling Zanu PF government and President Mugabe."

The paper's columnist also dismissed Makoni's criticism of Mugabe's leadership as "a shrine of lies," and went on: "Simba has just subscribed to megaphone politics by giving a black face to the voices from the White House and Whitehall."

The suspicion on Harare's streets is that Mugabe may have made a secret deal with Makoni, to get him to fight the election and somehow disable the campaigns of the MDC.

"The Herald gives a clear indication of the credibility of this rumour," said a diplomat. "If Makoni was a front in a Mugabe election plot, the Herald wouldn't have attacked him." - DPA
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