Mugabe leans heavily on rural strongholds to hang on to power Cape Times (SA) Date posted:Thu 26-Jun-2003 Date published:Thu 26-Jun-2003
Back to previous page		While participants in the rally sang cheerfully along in the Shona language to such Zanu PF anthems as Mugabe is the Man and We are Ready to Die for Zimbabwe, outside the rural parade grounds the atmosphere was a little less upbeat By Cris Chinaka Shurugwi - President Robert Mugabe usually appears stiff and combative in public, his ramrod posture ever more pronounced in the face of a deepening political and economic crisis. But the 79-year-old leader relaxed a little at a rally of his ruling Zanu PF party this month - cracking jokes, and diving into a crowd of cheering supporters for handshakes. The bunting, political posters and party songs all carried one message: Mugabe is counting on his rural power base to head off a rising opposition challenge from the urban areas. "We have faith in you," he told about 20 000 supporters, made up largely of poor peasant farmers in Shurugwi, 350km south of Harare. In the last month Mugabe has returned repeatedly to his rural strongholds to display his muscle as the opposition piles pressure in urban areas with strikes and street protests to drive him from power. It is not an unexpected political strategy for a politician who cut his teeth as a guerrilla leader. "Zanu PF planted its roots in the rural areas during the liberation struggle and it has maintained very strong ties with the rural people ever since," said political analyst Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a professor at the University of Harare. "These are difficult times for Zanu PF which is naturally going back to fight from its strong bases," he said of rural Zimbabwe, where at least 60% of the population live. The Shurugwi rally provided a glimpse of how Mugabe intends to play the game. The gathering included hundreds of members of the youth brigades, generally called "Green Bombers" and seen by Mugabe's critics as his party's eyes, ears - and fists - in the countryside. Accused of repression by his political opponents, Mugabe was careful to urge his young supporters to end violence in their campaign for Zanu PF, saying the ruling party was the custodian of the law and its activists had to be disciplined. But there was no doubt here about how the party is organised - with a mixture of military and civilian structures deeply rooted in Zimbabwe's 1970s independence war. For many party loyalists, the rally was a call to arms. Mugabe urged resourcefulness in tackling Zimbabwe's mounting problems, including food and fuel shortages, runaway inflation and one of the highest rates of HIV/Aids in the world. He also took a sharp swipe at Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who stands accused on two counts of treason, for allegedly seeking to assassinate Mugabe and organising his party's predominantly urban supporters in protests and strikes against the government. "Tsvangirai is trying to live his wild dream of marching to State House at the urging of his British sponsors. That will not be allowed," Mugabe said. Mugabe blames his country's political and economic problems on sabotage by Western and domestic opponents opposed to his controversial seizures of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks. While participants in the rally sang cheerfully along in the Shona language to such Zanu PF anthems as Mugabe is the Man and We are Ready to Die for Zimbabwe, outside the rural parade grounds the atmosphere was a little less upbeat. Villagers said privately that life had become harder in the past year as the foreign currency shortages afflicting the country had left medicine cupboards bare in rural clinics, among other scarcities. Along the road to Shurugwi, through Zimbabwe's gold- and chrome-mining belt, villagers battling with a crisis that has seen inflation soar to 300% - one of the highest in the world - are resorting to gold panning and selling the results through both legal and illegal routes. Traditional chiefs told Mugabe that they were still assessing the district's farming output this year, but were sure that some families would need food aid. Nearly half of Zimbabwe's population has been surviving on donated food over the past year after a collapse in the farming sector blamed on drought and the seizures of commercial farms by the government. But there was little overt criticism. "We know things could be better but we also know that they are going to get better if we work harder and remain united," said a 55-year-old villager, repeating almost verbatim the official government line on Zimbabwe's problems and prospects. "I don't belong to the MDC and so I don't believe that Mugabe and Zanu PF are the causes of our problems," he said before walking away. The MDC - which has challenged Mugabe's re-election in 2002 polls that were criticised as rigged by several Western governments - learned the hard way what happens to those who do blame the veteran leader for the country's woes. The party's attempt to organise a "final push" of street protests against Mugabe ended with hundreds of arrests as Zanu PF bussed in thousands of youth brigades and its rural supporters into towns to help the army and police to snuff out anti-government marches. Mugabe ended the rally with promises that he has made at half a dozen other gatherings across the country in the past month - vowing to boost social welfare and address local woes. Then he boarded a helicopter and headed back to town, leaving the rural people to ponder their increasingly desperate lives.