WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2008-04-04 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Moshoeshoe Monare
Zanu-PF hawks were due to tell President Robert Mugabe on Friday to fight for his presidency at all costs, even if it meant mobilising the war veterans to “defend the revolution”.
The politburo – the most influential organ in the ruling party – is meeting for the first time since March 5 to fortify the party’s and Mugabe’s 28-year rule.
Diplomatic sources said the party would insist on a runoff to wrest the presidency from Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who has won but without the required majority threshold.
| ‘Politburo diehards will try to convince him that he is not up to it’ |
The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission was still mum on the official presidential results late on Thursday. The delay is fuelling speculation that this is a ploy to give Mugabe an excuse to postpone holding a runoff from within 21 days to three months.
Zanu-PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira said on Thursday the agenda of the politburo meeting was not for public consumption.
Asked about the possibility of a rerun, he said: “I cannot say anything about that because it is not yet certain whether it will be part of the meeting.”
However, a politburo insider said Mugabe – who was seen on state television on Thursday for the first time since Saturday – would feel humiliated to go for a runoff.
“Politburo diehards will try to convince him that he is not up to it. He still can’t believe this is happening to him. But they still believe they own this country, and he will agree,” said the insider.
| ‘I believe we are likely to see war veterans re-emerging’ |
However, he said “moderates” would suggest that Mugabe concede defeat.
Shortly after he cast his vote on Saturday, Mugabe told reporters that those who crafted the runoff clause should have looked “at what the president gets, combining that with what his party gets and the sum total should be the winner”.
Zanu-PF – which won a two-thirds majority in 2005 – has lost control of parliament to the opposition, thus forfeiting the Speaker position.
Zanu-PF hawks believe they could twist the hand of the rural voters, their traditional power base, after the elimination of independent presidential candidate Simba Makoni in the second round.
However, a Zanu-PF-sympathetic academic, Joseph Kurebwa, warned that Makoni, the two Movement for Democratic Change factions and some in Zanu-PF could club together to punish Mugabe.
The politburo is not united and it is meeting for the first time since a senior member, Dumiso Dabengwa, rebelled and supported Makoni.
The politburo failed to meet on March 19, a crisis assembly at which Mugabe was expected to conduct a loyalty audit after Dabengwa claimed that 60 percent of politburo members supported Makoni.
Dabengwa said on Thursday he wasn’t invited to the politburo meeting, but it is believed the party would formally expel him – as they did Makoni.
Analysts fear that the party would use violent tactics during the runoff, shutting some areas as no-go ones for the opposition.
The party is already provoking the emotions of the war veterans by insisting that white farmers evicted from their farms during the land-grab campaign are threatening to reclaim their property if the MDC wins.
Independent Newspapers understands that some farmers have lodged a case with the Southern African Development Community tribunal to reclaim their property.
The state-owned Herald newspaper quoted Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans’ Association junior leader Edmore Matanhike as saying they would not sit and watch the white farmers reversing the gains of the liberation struggle.
Zimbabwean lawyer and political analyst Brian Kagoro said Mugabe might want more than three months to rearm the veterans.
“We are likely to see an announcement that we require a little more time, more than 21 days to go into the rerun, particularly because, even if you deploy war veterans and other forms of militia in the rural areas, it is impossible within 21 days to turn around what we saw as the new tsunami in the rural sector,” Kagoro told the Harare-based Quill Press Club.
“I believe we are likely to see war veterans re-emerging. Of course, a lot of money was put into war veteran mobilisation … I am not persuaded that terror won’t be reintroduced, whether covert or overt,” said Kagoro.
Zanu-PF’s Shamuyarira could not be reached for comment.
Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20080404062007680C252543