SOME 63% of Zimbabweans want a change of government and 65% want President Robert Mugabe to step down, according to an opinion poll released in Harare on Friday. The poll was conducted ahead of parliamentary elections next month by Probe Market Research, which is linked to Gallup International, on behalf of South Africa’s Helen Suzman foundation for the promotion of democracy. The survey was based on a sample of 1900 voters, and showed that even among communal farmers, traditionally the powerbase for Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party, 57% want a change of government. The most important issues for voters were rising prices and unemployment, and 80% said it was not sensible to blame the white minority for the country’s problems, the poll found. Mugabe and his ministers regularly accuse whites of being behind Zimbabwe’s misfortunes, and have pledged to change the constitution so the government can seize white-owned farmland for redistribution to blacks without paying for it. The survey found, however, that just 9% of people said the land issue is their top priority — but 74% blame the government for the fact that the question is still not resolved.
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