Jostling for votes on opposition turf in Beit Bridge and Gwanda with less than a few days to go before the March 31 poll, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has continued to drum up his anti-Blair rhetoric. But on this leg of his campaign blitz, he added another “imperialist” target to his list: the Oppenheimer family.
Mugabe, whose campaign motto during the 2002 presidential race was “land is the economy, the economy is land”, took a swipe at mining magnate Nicky Oppenheimer, whom he described as selfish.
“He has about 135 000ha of land at his ranch in this province,” Mugabe said. “We only asked for half of that, but he says it’s too much and he instead offered much less.”
Mugabe told his supporters that the De Beers boss had reminded him of when his grandfather fled the German holocaust and sought a piece of land where he could rest. “He said his family was sentimentally attached to the property.
“When he told me this he wasn’t wearing an Anglo or De Beers hat, but a family hat.”
According to Mugabe, he reminded Oppenheimer that he had inherited the property from his grandfather “but I inherited nothing from my grandfather”.
The issue of access to land
has been at the periphery of the 2005 election campaign.
Mugabe, albeit belatedly, is increasingly realising the danger of not feeding his own people.
Mugabe was bombarded with complaints of hunger in Gwanda, about 500km south of the capital Harare. Even usually pliant local chiefs spoke out about hunger stalking the countryside.
“Nobody is going to die of hunger,” Mugabe told 5000 party supporters that included about 1000 school children.
“We are likely to have drought if the rains don’t fall,” Mugabe said, but assured the party faithful that his country would import food to make sure “nobody starved”.
This about-turn comes barely eight months after telling Sky News that Zimbabwe was going to have a bumper harvest. The 81-year-old leader has led the Zanu-PF election roadshow from the front. His efforts to sway voters got a boost on Tuesday when independent candidate Lloyd Siyoka withdrew from the election race. Siyoka, the former Matabeleland South provincial chairperson of Zanu-PF, was suspended after attending the controversial Tsholotsho meeting last year. He became the second independent to bow out and publicly declare support for ruling party candidates.
Mugabe warned that the Zanu-PF leadership would not tolerate “indiscipline” within the party. He said Siyoka and five other party provincial chairpersons were suspended for being part of the plot to subvert Politburo guidance.
Zanu-PF’s election drive has been hamstrung by in-fighting. It is nevertheless expected to be triumphant at the polls.