As the March 30th deadline approaches for
Zimbabwe's parliamentary election campaigns, the country's political
parties are still drawing election battle lines.
President Robert Mugabe, who heads the Zimbabwe African National Union
Patriotic Front(ZANUPF), is charging that the opposition Movement for a
Democratic Change(MDC) is a front for the British governments maneuvers to
re-colonize Zimbabwe.
MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has consistently dismissed Mr. Mugabe's
allegations, saying he is using the British prime minister as a
decoy for the economic and
political crises facing the country. He says President Mugabe and his
party created Zimbabwe's problems and are now unable to solve them.
"No one can tell me that I am less a patriot than Robert Mugabe," he
said. "Tony Blair has nothing to do with Zimbabwe. If Mugabe wants to
contest Tony Blair he should go to Britain."
Mr. Tsvangirai says it is Mr. Mugabe who is beholden to the British, noting that
the government has not changed the independence constitution negotiated
with the British, 25 years ago.
Mr. Mugabe has doled out
hundreds of computers for schools at every campaign stop. He has been
quick to tell the recipients of the computers that the donations are a
personal, rather than a political initiative.
Critics of Mr. Mugabe say the school children need books, rather than
computers. They say some of the schools receiving the computers do not
have the electricity needed to run them.
It was during this campaign that Mr. Mugabe admitted that Zimbabwe will
harvest less than enough to feed its 12.5 million citizens. However, he
says the government will import enough food to feed everyone.
Exhorting the electorate to
vote for change, Mr. Tsvangirai says his party is the antidote to the ills
facing Zimbabwe.
"You have a right to choose your own leadership, you have a right to
choose your own government. Go and vote for food. Go and vote for job. Go
and vote for hope. Go and vote for MDC. Go and vote for your future."
Unlike the 2000 general and 2002 presidential elections, this campaign
has been largely peaceful. Mr. Tsvangirai has taken his campaign to what
had been "no-go" areas for his party and - according to media reports -
has attracted sizable audiences there.
The results of both the 2000 and 2002 polls revealed a
rural-versus-urban divide, with the ruling ZANU-PF party doing well in
most rural areas and the MDC getting the majority of urban seats. At stake
Thursday are 120 seats in parliament. |