The Insider

Simba Makoni’s entry into the 2008 presidential race generated excitement but soon faded as no heavyweights from the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front , apart from Dumiso Dabengwa, rallied behind him and he was increasingly seen as a spoiler.

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A poll by the Mass Public Opinion Institute, three weeks before the March 2008 elections, showed that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai had surged ahead of President Robert Mugabe reversing the tables from a month before.

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The signing into law of the Indigenisation Act by President Robert Mugabe, three weeks before the 2008 elections, sent panic waves within the business community but according to the United States embassy the move was an election gimmick to force the business community to vote for Mugabe.

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Gen Solomon Mujuru told President Robert Mugabe to step down on 10 March 2008 but Mugabe instead went ahead to tell the press that Mujuru was fully behind him and not former Finance Minister Simba Makoni who was the third presidential candidate.

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President Robert Mugabe declared two weeks before the elections that he had the support of former army commander Solomon Mujuru but United States embassy officials who still believed that Mujuru was behind Makoni said he could be deceiving Mugabe.

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President Robert Mugabe was still leading in an opinion poll conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute a month before the 2008 elections but lost to Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai though Tsvangirai did not score an outright victory.

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Giles Mutsekwa, the co-Minister of Home Affairs who had signed an order allowing the government to take control of the Kingdom Meikles Group, said he regretted the move.

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Co-Home Affairs Minister Giles Mutsekwa signed an order allowing the government to appoint an administrator for blue-chip Zimbabwean firm Kingdom Meikles claiming that the group had violated foreign exchange controls.

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Ibbo Mandaza who had become Simba Makoni’s principal supporter in the 2008 presidential campaign was hopeful that former army commander Solomon Mujuru, who he said was a Makoni backer, would come out publicly before the elections.

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