Mugabe says party will choose his successor

HARARE – Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said his ruling Zanu-PF party was capable of choosing his successor, the official Herald newspaper said in what appeared to be a bid to quash talk of a possible power struggle.

Mugabe, who turned 82 yesterday, has indicated he will retire when his current six-year term expires in 2008. Analysts say Zanu-PF remains beset by tensions following Mugabe’s decision in late 2004 to appoint a relative political lightweight Joyce Mujuru as his deputy – a post seen as a stepping stone for the top job.Mugabe said in an interview that Zanu-PF is “capable of electing a successor as long as aspirants campaign properly and people rely on leaders who come through Congress,” the Herald said.”There is time to campaign, but campaign at the right time and not become divisive and over-ambitious, with secret meetings taking place and denouncing and denigrating others and so on,” Mugabe said.Mugabe moved to quell feuding that threatened to split the party ahead of March 2005 elections, suspending senior party leaders accused of having held a secret meeting to push for a rival candidate as vice president.But analysts say hostilities still simmer and that jostling between rival factions in the ruling party is likely to intensify as Mugabe’s expected retirement draws nearer.Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country, first as prime minister and later as president, since 1980, denies charges that he has run down a once-thriving economy through ruinous policies including his seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks.In an interview broadcast on state television on Sunday, Mugabe said his government would print money to help it ride out its economic problems, shown in food, fuel and foreign currency shortages and the world’s highest inflation rate.- Nampa-ReutersAnalysts say Zanu-PF remains beset by tensions following Mugabe’s decision in late 2004 to appoint a relative political lightweight Joyce Mujuru as his deputy – a post seen as a stepping stone for the top job.Mugabe said in an interview that Zanu-PF is “capable of electing a successor as long as aspirants campaign properly and people rely on leaders who come through Congress,” the Herald said.”There is time to campaign, but campaign at the right time and not become divisive and over-ambitious, with secret meetings taking place and denouncing and denigrating others and so on,” Mugabe said.Mugabe moved to quell feuding that threatened to split the party ahead of March 2005 elections, suspending senior party leaders accused of having held a secret meeting to push for a rival candidate as vice president.But analysts say hostilities still simmer and that jostling between rival factions in the ruling party is likely to intensify as Mugabe’s expected retirement draws nearer.Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country, first as prime minister and later as president, since 1980, denies charges that he has run down a once-thriving economy through ruinous policies including his seizure of white-owned commercial farms for blacks.In an interview broadcast on state television on Sunday, Mugabe said his government would print money to help it ride out its economic problems, shown in food, fuel and foreign currency shortages and the world’s highest inflation rate.- Nampa-Reuters