Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who will be visiting Zimbabwe in the next few weeks, might propose a plan to sanitise the governing Zanu-PF party by voluntarily getting rid of some of its most undesirable elements, diplomatic officials have said.
Obasanjo, a member of the Commonwealth troika that includes the leaders of South Africa and Australia and which is tasked with finding a solution for the troubled Southern African country, is expected to put a number of proposals to President Robert Mugabe to pull Zimbabwe out of its present pariah status.
One of the proposals likely to find favour in Western capitals, and to pave the way for the smooth and honourable exit of Mugabe, is the immediate departure of some of his most unpopular lieutenants, including Information and Agriculture Ministers Jonathan Moyo and Joseph Made.
Moyo, who was handpicked by Mugabe to spearhead his propaganda machine shortly before Zimbabwe’s watershed 2000 general election, has ruffled feathers at home and abroad because of his acerbic style in response to any criticism of the Zanu-PF leader’s policies.
His most recent gaffe was when he blasted President Thabo Mbeki’s ”African renaissance” plan after South African newspapers exposed his extravagant spending spree in Johannesburg while millions faced starvation in his country.
Although local authorities have tried to play down reports of Mugabe’s departure before the end of his new six-year term to arrest the country’s decline into ruin, talk of his early retirement refuses to die down.
Harare was this week abuzz with inferences about what a recent statement attributed to Zimbabwe Defence Forces commander, General Vitalis Zvinavashe, actually meant.
Zvinavashe, in a rare interview with a pro-Zanu-PF newspaper, said it was clear that the country was in a crisis and that a task force — to include those outside Mugabe’s inner circle — was needed to pull Zimbabwe out of its current problems.
Meanwhile, as International Cricket Council (ICC) officials made another security check in Zimbabwe this week, a plethora of organisations was planning demonstrations during cricket matches to be held in Harare and Bulawayo next month. The groups include disgruntled white commercial farmers, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the National Constitutional Assembly — a lobby group for a new national Constitution — and women and student groups.
Zimbabwe will host six of the 54 Cricket World Cup matches in February and March.
The government has vowed to crack down on people suspected to be involved in or planning to disrupt the cricket matches.
”There has been a sudden increase of violence and arrests of MDC MPs and officials and leaders of civic organisations since the beginning of the month as preparations for the Cricket World Cup reach advanced stages,” MDC representative Paul Temba Nyathi said.
He said he disapproved of the decision taken by the ICC to proceed with the matches in Zimbabwe ”in light of these sad developments. The decision callously underlines the point that the leading figures in world cricket are simply guided by profit rather than principle.”
February also promises to be a difficult month for security officials who might have to deal with a backlash should MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai be convicted of treason when he and two others appear in court.
Additional reporting by Sapa-AFP