V President Mujuru resigns?

Zimbabwe Vice President resigns!
The World Today - Thursday, 29 March , 2007  12:46:00 Reporter: Jennifer Macey ELEANOR HALL: There are reports from Zimbabwe today that President Robert Mugabe's power base, the ruling Zanu-PF party, may be splintering. An independent Zimbabwean paper in London reports that Zimbabwe's Vice President has tendered her resignation in protest against the actions of President Mugabe. And some are now speculating that she may attempt to gain her party's nomination and so derail Mr Mugabe's plan to run again in the upcoming elections. Jennifer Macey reports. JENNIFER MACEY: There are growing signs that the recent police crackdown against members of Zimbabwe's opposition movement are now causing unrest within President Robert Mugabe's own ranks. The London based paper The Zimbabwean is reporting that Vice President Joyce Mujuru has formally tended her resignation. The Zimbabwean's editor Wilf Mbanga spoke to the BBC. WILF MBANGA: We've got a very good source and we then double checked with other sources in the Mujuru camp and they've confirmed tha, you know, she did resign about two weeks ago and that Mugabe is sitting on her resignation. JENNIFER MACEY: Joyce Mujuru leads one of the ruling Zanu-PF factions that is pushing for the 83-year-old President to retire. Other news reports say she has also held secret talks over the growing crisis in Zimbabwe with South African Government officials. WILF MBANGA: She feels that he should go and that he should make way for her, and she feels that he has become a liability not only to Zanu-PF, but to Zimbabwe. JENNIFER MACEY: While the newspaper is openly critical of President Mugabe's regime, Editor Wilf Mbanga is confident of his sources. WILF MBANGA: My initial doubts, but after checking with several sources, we are now satisfied that there is substance to the story. JENNIFER MACEY: The latest news comes as police launched another raid on the offices of the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC. Leader Morgan Tsvangirai was among 20 people briefly detained by police just before he was about to hold a press conference over the attacks against party members earlier this month. The party's Secretary-General, Tendai Biti. TENDAI BITI: They made everyone lie down and then they started beating people on the back. We're told that all of the women, they can't even walk. Why they are arresting them, we don't know. JENNIFER MACEY: The latest violence isn't going to be well received at an emergency two-day summit of the Southern African Development Community leaders in Tanzania. However Tendai Biti says Mugabe will reject pressure from the international community. TENDAI BITI: I think he's suffering from senile dementia. Mugabe is a megalomaniac. He's a despot. He's a tyrant. He will never abandon his terror tactics, his fascism. JENNIFER MACEY: Mosagu Boraygo (phonetic) is a Professor of Political Science at Dar es Salaam University. He notes many countries across southern Africa are emerging from a colonial history, and there's a view that President Mugabe is being punished for his controversial land distribution program. He warns the west must change its approach to Zimbabwe, but says regional leaders need to apply the sort of pressure to Mugabe's regime that was put on South Africa during the apartheid era. MOSAGU BORAYGO: At that time, the west came up with the idea of constructive engagement and it looks to me that we are faced with another challenging situation in which we should try out the same old medicine - constructive engagement in Zimbabwe. I do believe myself that it can produce results. JENNIFER MACEY: The emergency meeting in Tanzania will be seen as a test case for African leaders, but President Mugabe is holding firm. He says at 83 he's not too old to contest the next election in 2008 and has vowed to survive any western attempts to dislodge him from power. ELEANOR HALL: Jennifer Macey reporting.

 

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