allAfrica.com: Zimbabwe: Mugabe Hints At Exit (Page 1 of 1)

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has hinted to his close lieutenants that he will resign in two years if he wins the impending run-off to be held this month, but details remain sketchy on how the veteran nationalist plans to manage his exit without causing further harm to the fractious ZANU-PF.

The contentious succession issue surfaced at the party's politburo meeting held last Wednesday at which reform-minded ZANU-PF members openly told the meeting that the revolutionary party would have to renew itself soon after the tricky run-off in which President Mugabe squares up against Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

While the meeting of the party's supreme decision-making body renewed its pledge to support the incumbent in the run-off, consistent with President Mugabe's endorsement at last year's special congress held in Harare in December, it took the unprecedented step of lifting the lid on the succession issue, once considered a hot potato in ZANU-PF.

In 2004 President Mugabe invited ZANU-PF members to discuss his succession openly, but the Zimbabwean President had to kill the debate fearing it would tear apart the party.

At the time, intense jockeying for the high-pressure job had emerged between Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa and Vice-President Joice Mujuru, backed by her husband, retired army general Solomon Mujuru.

The defection of former politburo members Simba Makoni and Dumiso Dabengwa from the party and ZANU-PF's loss of its majority in Parliament has however, jolted the party's leadership to revisit the succession debate albeit after the run-off.

Highly placed ZANU-PF sources told The Financial Gazette this week that it became apparent at the politburo meeting that President Mugabe would not complete his term of office that is supposed to end in 2013 if he won the impending second round of voting.

According to presidential results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) last Friday, President Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai but neither of them garnered sufficient votes of more than 50 percent as required under Electoral Laws to avoid a run-off.

ZEC said the ruling party leader garnered 43,2 percent; Tsvangirai had 47, 9 percent, independent candidates Makoni and Langton Toungana had 8,3 and 0, 6 percent of the vote respectively.

But the MDC claims that its presidential candidate won the poll with 50,3 percent of the vote and there was therefore no need for a run-off.

ZEC is yet to decide a date for the polls and it remains to be seen whether or not it will comply with the country's election law that requires that the second round of voting should be conducted within 21 days.

Sources this week said President Mugabe indicated he would not finish his term and the person to succeed him would be chosen at the party's congress to be held next year.

They said ZANU-PF is also amenable to a government of national unity (GNU) but would want to buy into the proposal once it has secured victory for President Mugabe who will then take charge of the resultant governing structure.

"Buying into the proposal now would mean that Tsvangirai as the winner of the first round of voting would assume control of the GNU, which we (ZANU-PF) may avoid if President Mugabe is to win the runoff," said a source.

Asked why the ruling party leader could not stand down now, the source said: " The president felt standing down now would confuse the electorate. It is like the casino, you cannot change the bet when the ball is already rolling. We have to make sure that the wheel spins full circle."

The source added that the politburo also deliberated on the reasons why the president had lost to Tsvangirai.

Divisions brought about by the party's primaries that witnessed ZANU-PF having two candidates representing some constituencies before some were ordered to withdraw were cited as one reason for the poor showing.

"It was decided that next time, primary elections should be held long before the elections unlike the situation that prevailed. This would enable party members to solve differences before the elections are held. We went into the last election when wounds were still fresh among some losing candidates in the primaries," the source added.

ZANU-PF's Patrick Chinamasa who heads a recently established information committee could not be reached for comment.

But the party's parliamentary chief whip, Joram Gumbo, who is also a member of the politburo yesterday told The Financial Gazette that he was not aware that President Mugabe would retire in 2010, but confirmed that the party would appoint new leaders next year.

"What you are saying is news to me. However, ZANU-PF appoints new leaders at congress and the next congress will be held next year. In ZANU-PF the first secretary of the party is the president," Gumbo said.

He said President Mugabe's representation of the party in the last presidential election was above board as he had been elected as the party's first secretary at the party's 2004 congress.

"At last year's special congress, there was only confirmation and endorsement because the president had received the nomination at the 2004 congress," Gumbo added.

There have been calls for President Mugabe, in power for almost three decades, to step down and allow a leadership renewal in his party by people such as South African Nobel Prize winner Bishop Desmond Tutu.

President Mugabe has resisted pleas from his peers to step down. Most post-independence regional leaders like Nelson Mandela of South Africa, Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania and Festus Mogae of Botswana have passed on the leadership baton.

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