KEY POINTS:
Robert Mugabe is facing the first major internal challenge to his leadership in 20 years after his former Finance Minister, Simba Makoni, said he would run against the President in next month's elections.
The decision complicates what was looking like an electoral procession for Mugabe after the opposition failed to agree to a united front, leaving him facing a weak and divided field.
Makoni, 57, ended weeks of speculation yesterday by announcing he would stand as an independent against his one-time political mentor.
"I share the agony and anguish of all citizens over the extreme hardships we have all endured for nearly 10 years. I also share the widely held view that these hardships are a result of failure of national leadership," he said.
Makoni said that he and an "overwhelming majority" of Zanu-PF members were disappointed that a congress in December had failed to change the party's leadership. The former minister's strongest backer appears to be Solomon Mujuru, a former general and leading member of the ruling party's politburo. Mujuru, husband of the Vice-President, Joyce Mujuru, has been consistently linked with attempts to topple Mugabe.
The President had summoned Makoni to the State House in Harare last week to confront him over any potential challenge but sources said that the former minister had denied any imminent move.
Makoni could profit from widespread Zanu-PF disillusionment with the 84-year-old leader and opposition supporters enraged by the bickering in the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The two factions of the MDC, led by Arthur Mutambara and Morgan Tsvangirai, plan to fight the elections separately.
Makoni is backed by several influential Zanu-PF officials who wanted new leadership at the party's special congress in December but were thwarted by Mugabe after he railroaded through his nomination. The former minister said he would have wanted to run on a ruling party ticket but found that door shut for him. Party insiders say Mujuru's support guarantees Makoni a substantial backing from the military.
Analysts say shortages of food, foreign currency, fuel and the world's highest inflation rate officially pegged at 26,000 per cent present the biggest challenge to Mugabe's rule.
A THIRD WAY
* Simba Makoni is a former Finance Minister who is popular with the business community and urban voters disenchanted with Mugabe and the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
* Makoni is backed by a faction led by retired Army general and member of the ruling Zanu-PF party's top decision-making body, Solomon Mujuru, whose wife is Vice-President Joyce Mujuru.
- INDEPENDENT
