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| author/source:Financial Gazette (Zimb) |
| published:Thu 14-Feb-2002 |
| posted on this site:Thu 14-Feb-2002 |
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| Article Type : News |
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| One could not help but recall then prime minister Mugabe's popular rallies in the early years of Zimbabwe's independence. Then thousands of excited Zimbabweans would pack Harare's Rufaro Stadium to listen to Mugabe speak. Not anymore |
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From Abel Mutsakani Assistant News Editor
Gweru - The lasting impression, as thousands of supporters wildly cheered Morgan Tsvangirai at Gweru's Mkoba Stadium on Saturday, was that President Robert Mugabe's chief rival in next month's presidential election was firmly on top in the Midlands province, considered a key barometer in measuring national opinion. Shared between the ruling Zanu PF party and Tsvangirai's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party in the June 2000 parliamentary elections, the Midlands is a microcosm of Zimbabwean society with an almost equal balance between the two main ethnical Ndebele and Shona groups.
In a drive around Gweru city earlier that day, the relaxed weekend mood was unmistakable. Shops and public bars remained open for business. The unconcerned women vendors went on selling their vegetables by the roadside as nearly 10 000 people voluntarily trooped from all directions into Mkoba Stadium where Tsvangirai, the MDC candidate in the March 9 and 10 ballot, was having a campaign rally. When Zanu PF holds similar campaign meetings around the country, its militant supporters go on a rampage to force residents to abandon their businesses and whatever else they are doing to attend the party's rallies. In most cases, thousands of people are bussed in from several areas to beef up attendance at rallies, including many who were seized from Harare's Mbare a week ago and forced to attend a Mugabe rally far away at Kotwa in Mashonaland East.
At Mkoba on Saturday, Tsvangirai glowed with confidence emanating from opinion surveys and analysts' views which show him ahead of Mugabe in Zimbabwe's most crucial ballot since the country's independence from Britain in 1980. Rather than use the opportunity to get cheap votes, as may be expected of any politician ahead of such an important election, a visibly confident Tsvangirai instead focused his energies on trying to encourage his listeners to turn out in large numbers during balloting in the two-day poll. "Do not get discouraged and do not be fooled by talk that Mugabe will rig the election," Tsvangirai said, clearly seeking to allay fears that voting would be pointless because Mugabe and Zanu PF will steal the election.
Besides fears that the ballot could be rigged, political analysts say the violence that has scarred Zimbabwe in the past two years and has increased in the past three months could induce apathy among many voters, especially those in remote rural areas. Sixteen people, 13 of them MDC supporters, were killed in political violence last month alone, according to a report released last week by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum, a coalition of the country's leading human rights groups. Tsvangirai told the cheering crowd: "Come out in large numbers to vote and I can assure you that Mugabe is not going to succeed in rigging this election."
Once mocked as an ignoramus by Mugabe only three years ago, Tsvangirai - who analysts say could end Mugabe's political career in the March poll - told the crowd he would, if elected, accord the 77-year-old leader respect as a former head of state. Mugabe's safety would also be guaranteed under Tsvangirai's government. Tsvangirai said his government would re-launch the search for a new constitution for the country, abandoned by Mugabe's government after it was defeated in a national referendum two years ago. Unveiling yet another policy milestone for a future MDC government, Tsvangirai told the excited crowd that his government would launch an independent truth, justice and reconciliation commission to spearhead a national healing and forgiveness process for a country torn apart by political violence and lawlessness.
But what lingered on long after the rally had ended was the sense of total peace and the relaxed mood in which the huge rally had taken place. There were no party marshals or youths clad in MDC regalia toy-toying around residential areas and coercing residents to attend the rally or even just to encourage them to do so. Watching the willing crowds as they trudged on to the rally, one could not help but recall then prime minister Mugabe's popular rallies in the early years of Zimbabwe's independence. Then thousands of excited Zimbabweans would pack Harare's Rufaro Stadium to listen to Mugabe speak. Not anymore.
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