Zimbabwe’s opposition vowed to finish off its campaign to topple President Robert Mugabe as its leader left hospital in a wheelchair on Friday following his beating at the hands of the security services.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) president Morgan Tsvangirai was whisked away from the private Avenues Hospital in downtown Harare to his home and later failed to show at a press conference as he was ordered to take it easy.
However, senior MDC officials and other opposition leaders promised to take to the streets again to demonstrate against the government and took a swipe at African leaders whose response to the assaults has so far been muted.
”We are in the final phase of the final push,” said MDC secretary general Tendai Biti.
”We are going to do anything by democratic means to defeat the regime of Robert Mugabe.”
Before Mugabe’s security forces rounded up dozens of senior activists as they tried to attend a mass prayer meeting last Sunday, the opposition had been badly riven by division within its ranks.
However, the arrests and subsequent beatings that were inflicted indiscriminately have served to unite the former feuding parties.
Arthur Mutambara, leader of a rival MDC faction, said any differences within the opposition would be managed.
”Anyone who is under any illusions that there is division in the opposition, I am sorry to say you are wrong,” he said. ”The core business is to defeat and drive out of town the regime of Robert Mugabe.”
The region’s leaders have acknowledged the dangers they face from the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, where inflation stands at 1 730% and unemployment at 80%, but they have been reluctant to speak out.
Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete travelled to Harare on Thursday to mediate in the crisis. But although his office called his talks with Mugabe a ”great success”, the Zimbabwean leader showed little sign of softening his stance by accusing the MDC of going ”out of their way to effect acts of violence”.
Mutambara said African heads of state were losing face by failing to send a clear message to Mugabe.
”You will never be respected as African leaders as long as we have oppression in Zimbabwe,” he said.
A similar sentiment was struck by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, which urged the people of Africa ”not to turn their backs on the people of Zimbabwe”.
Zimbabwe’s former colonial ruler Britain, meanwhile, stepped up its criticism of Mugabe, with Deputy Foreign Minister Lord David Triesman accusing him of action ”bordering on crimes against humanity”.
Mugabe has brushed aside international condemnation sparked by the images of a badly beaten Tsvangirai, saying Western governments could ”go hang” themselves and accused the MDC of instigating the violence.
Analysts have warned a bigger threat to Mugabe comes not from the MDC but within the ranks of his own Zanu-PF party, which had been expecting him to stand down at the 2008 elections.
Comments in a weekend interview that he hoped to stand for another six-year term further inflamed an already volatile situation.
There was a show of support on Friday from his Deputy President, Joyce Mujuru, whom Mugabe had formerly anointed as his successor.
In comments published by the state-run Herald newspaper, Mujuru defended the use of force to deal with revolts against the government.
”There is need to reaffirm the position of the party to successfully deal with such insurgencies to safeguard the gains of our hard-won independence,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Tanzanian foreign minister said on Friday that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will address the escalating crisis in Zimbabwe at a meeting at the end of the month in Tanzania.
”The troika will meet in Dar es Salaam on March 26 and 27 and will discuss several issues in the SADC region, including trying to help find a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis,” Bernard Membe told Agence France-Presse.
The 14-nation SADC is a regional bloc promoting development and democracy in the region. — AFP
