'Pressure on Zimbabwe's Mugabe to resign'
HARARE: Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has come under unprecedented
pressure to resign after a humiliating defeat in a referendum on a
controversial draft constitution, sources said on Wednesday.
But they said Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, was likely
instead to sacrifice some of his close lieutenants in a bid to save his own
job.
The referendum defeat last week has left the government in a state of panic
ahead of general elections in April.
Mugabe, in Lusaka, Zambia for a summit on the Congo war, on Wednesday denied
a London Times report that he planned to step down in 2002, saying he
remained popular in his ZANU-PF party.
But party sources said Mugabe -- Zimbabwe's ruler for 20 years -- was told
flatly at an emergency party meeting on Friday by officials from at least
four of Zimbabwe's 10 provinces that he was the party's worst liability.
"For over six hours, he was the main subject, and the message was very
clear -- the government's chances of surviving the elections with him as
head were slim," one said.
"One provincial representative said to him 'Comrade President, you are our
biggest problem at the moment. I think you should now resign'. That
statement was greeted with approval right round the hall," he said.
Mugabe appeared shocked at the suggestion, but allowed the speaker to
continue, said the source who declined to be named.
His account was corroborated by two others who attended the
Friday meeting.
"No vote was suggested but there was a suggestion that it might help the
party if Mugabe makes a statement soon, indicating that he is not going to
seek re-election, and that he is going to fire some of the cabinet ministers
who have got the government into a difficult position," one of the sources
said.
Mugabe's current six-year presidential term ends in 2002.
Mugabe repudiated the reports in Lusaka on Wednesday and denied he planned
to step down in 2002. He also denied there had been a rebellion by the
180-member central committee of ZANU-PF.
"I have not heard anything like that. We had the Congress of the ruling
party and the delegates voted unanimously for me. They want me to continue,"
Mugabe said.
Party insiders said Mugabe would not quit in a hurry because ZANU-PF has not
yet agreed on a successor.
Mugabe's party is expected to face its toughest electoral challenge in the
general elections from the new labour-backed Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), which backed the campaign against the draft constitution and won with
a 55 per cent vote.
Mugabe, 76, rose to lead ZANU-PF in the mid 1970s after a palace coup
against veteran nationalist Ndabaningi Sithole, and observers say fighting
for his position could turn bloody.
Zimbabwe is struggling with its worst economic crisis in two decades, which
many blame on mismanagement by Mugabe. (AP)
For reprint rights: Times Syndication Service
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