President Robert Mugabe, who turns 93 on Tuesday, has brushed off the proposed coalition by Zimbabwe’s opposition parties saying it will not be a threat at all as it will be an amalgamation of weaknesses.
“Grand coalition? My teacher ndichiri muGrade One aiti ukaisa mazero maviri haaite two, rinongoramba riri zero. Kana ukaawanza kusvika gumi it just amounts to a huge pile of zeros, nothing, you see. Hatityi. Inembenge yaitwa here iyo coalition?,” he said according to the Sunday Mail which published extracts of Mugabe’s interview due to be aired by national television tomorrow and on Tuesday.
“If they want a coalition, if they believe that a coalition can save them so why the dilly-dallying about it? But now Mai Mujuru apparently divorced, left in that situation which appears to be without anyone who matters, politically, Tsvangirai will say ahh, you are now only an individual. Ini ndine party kaini. And yes, he has a party. My party cannot have a coalition with an individual. Iwe kana uchida unojoina wouya pasi pangu.
“I don’t know; she might have to do that perhaps to save her political skin. But that will be the final blow to her political life … I suppose that’s why others left her kuti ahh, wava kutiisa mupolitics dzana Tsvangirai. Tigorarama here neZanu-PF? Inobva yawana mbuva to criticise during election time. But they are not even worth criticising now.”
Zimbabwe’s opposition parties have been talking about a coalition ahead of next year’s elections but one group has formed the Coalition of Democrats while another is under the National Electoral Reform Agenda.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the biggest opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change which beat Mugabe in 2008, has been touring the country sounding the people’s views on the proposed coalition.
Although he had generally been given the go-ahead he has been warned about joining with Mugabe’s surrogates.
There is also a feeling within Tsvangirai’s party that he should lead any coalition and the allocation of seats to be contested next year should be based on the 2008 elections results when Tsvangirai beat ZANU-PF to win 100 seats while the smaller MDC led by Arthur Mutambara at the time won 10.
Mugabe’s former deputy Joice Mujuru has since joined the political fray with her Zimbabwe People First but the party was thrown into turmoil last week with Mujuru firing seven of her top lieutenants who in turn fired her.
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