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Opposition victory will end Zimbabwe crisis - Tsvangirai |
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Zimbabwe's main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday said only an opposition victory in next month's general election would end the country's crippling economic crisis. |
The southern African country is in the grip of a severe economic crisis blamed on President Robert Mugabe's policies and reflected by the highest inflation rate in the world, above 100,000 percent, and chronic food and fuel shortages.
Speaking to reporters after touring three Harare working class townships, Tsvangirai, who leads the larger faction of the divided Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said he had witnessed "unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment and hunger" but vowed to mend the economy if elected.
"We've come here to give all these people hope that the change that is coming is one they can trust, one that will make a difference in the face of massive unemployment, hunger and unprecedented poverty we have all witnessed. The bankrupt Mugabe regime has no solutions to offer," Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai has refused calls for a coalition with former finance minister Simba Makoni, an independent who was expelled from the ruling ZANU-PF after challenger to Mugabe for the presidency in over 20 years. Analysts say a split vote could hand 84-year-old Mugabe another five-year term.
MOBBED BY SUPPORTERS
Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist, was mobbed by supporters as he moved through market stalls and informal industries providing a source of income for hundreds of jobless youths in a country where four in five adults are out of formal work.
As he moved from one stop to another, Tsvangirai was greeted by supporters of his MDC who chanted party slogans and waved the party's open palms symbol.
"He is the people's president, our president, who has come to witness our suffering," declared one woman as Tsvangirai passed by, stopping intermittently to chat and shake hands with supporters.
Tsvangirai launched his party's campaign for the March 29 polls last weekend promising "to restore the dignity of every Zimbabwean."
"For us, March 29 is about change you can trust; it's not just a question of change of personalities. It is a question of change that will deliver food, jobs and hope to the people," Tsvangirai said.
Makoni called off a planned foray into Zimbabwe's rural areas on Wednesday. Officials said there were administrative issues to be dealt with before he launches his campaign.
Both Tsvangirai and Makoni have made the economy a centrepiece of their campaigns.
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, denies mismanaging the economy, saying it has been sabotaged by western governments as punishment for his seizure of white farms to resettle landless blacks.
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