Harare, Zimbabwe, Feb 9, 2008 / 19:20 pm
A former finance minister and senior member of Zimbabwe’s ruling party has emerged as a challenger to President Robert Mugabe’s 28 years of continuous rule, Cybercast News Service reports.
Simba Makoni told a press conference in Harare that he was standing as an independent candidate for president in the March 29 election. He was expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF party on Wednesday, but is winning support from party members. Former army commander Solomon Mujuru, the husband of the current vice-president, has announced his support for Makoni’s candidacy.
Makoni could also win over some members of the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has split into factions along ethnic and regional lines. The MDC has put forward its own presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Makoni appealed to all opponents of Mugabe at his press conference. "We should be decent enough to come up with a unified position instead of fighting among ourselves," he said. "There will be many of us, a great many of us," he said, according to Cybercast News Service.