Zimbabwe Candidates Come Out Swinging

To hear the two presidential front-runners here tell it, incumbent Robert Mugabe is a senile old man who has overstayed his welcome at Zimbabwe’s helm, while opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, his main challenger, is a lackey of the British government--an Uncle Tom.

Reports from Zimbabwe in recent weeks have emphasized the Mugabe government’s efforts to obstruct the opposition by means of both questionable legislation and intimidation. But in the countdown to next weekend’s election, these rivals have come out swinging like old-fashioned pols, determined to win votes through fierce rhetoric and often vicious advertising campaigns.

Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front Party, or ZANU-PF, face their toughest challenge in 22 years in power from Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist and leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC.

Although issues such as the country’s collapsing economy, land reform and food shortages have emerged as serious concerns for average Zimbabweans, a barrage of mudslinging and character assassination has increasingly dominated the campaign on both sides.

But analysts said this weekend that the vast majority of Zimbabweans have already made their choice.

“There may be name-calling, but people are aware of what [Mugabe and Tsvangirai] stand for essentially,” said Masipula Sithole, a political science professor and director of the Mass Public Opinion Institute, a polling organization. “People are taking notice. They are reading between the lines. They know the tactics.”

Rallies held Sunday in this sweltering capital marked the beginning of a last-ditch attempt by the candidates to win new support in the final lap before the March 9-10 polls.

In separate parts of town, buoyant crowds gathered to hear Mugabe slam his opponent as a stooge of Britain, from which Zimbabwe won independence in 1980, and Tsvangirai blame the president for rampant government corruption, unemployment and widespread hunger.

But the war of words began weeks ago in Zimbabwe’s highly polarized media. Mugabe has used the state newspaper and the government-sponsored television and radio stations, which have tentacles across the country, as his mouthpieces. Tsvangirai depends on the often harassed independent press, which is not accessible nationwide, to get his message across.

For Mugabe, the contest pits a nationalist champion of black interests against a puppet not only of Britain, but also of the white farmers who retain most of the country’s prime farmland.

Touting his credentials as a hero of the liberation war, Mugabe has often referred to Tsvangirai as being a “shameless traitor and sellout” sponsored by the British government to defend the interests of Zimbabwe’s white minority at the expense of Zimbabwe’s black majority.

“If you lose your independence today to whites, how long will it take for us to set things right?” Mugabe told a rally in the southwestern town of Gwanda on Friday. “It took us over a hundred years before.”

In an attempt to deflect criticism from the country’s collapsing economy and biting food shortages, the ruling party advertisements accuse white farmers of hoarding and burning sacks of maize--the main staple for most black Zimbabweans.

“Hoarding food is criminal,” one ad reads. “Don’t reward food hoarding by voting for those behind it.”

Last week, the government also charged Tsvangirai with treason for allegedly plotting to assassinate Mugabe. It said it had a videotape on which the opposition leader could be heard talking about the president being “eliminated.” The MDC and Western powers have dismissed the treason charges, which carry the death penalty, as a ploy to discredit Tsvangirai.

The MDC, meanwhile, has couched its more serious campaign messages within attacks on Mugabe and ruling party stalwarts.

The 78-year-old president is portrayed as being too old and senile to run the country. One ad says, “The only thing as high as Zimbabwe’s inflation is Mugabe’s age.” Tsvangirai is 49.

Inflation here has soared to an annual rate of 117%, pushing many basic commodities out of reach of ordinary Zimbabweans. Three-quarters of the population lives below the poverty line.

Nkanyiso Maqeda, the MDC’s information and publicity coordinator, acknowledges that surveys commissioned by the party showed that ads criticizing Mugabe’s age were unpopular with many voters.

“They told us to stick to the main issues that concern them, like jobs, food shortages, AIDS, the rule of law, peace and education,” Maqeda said.

So in recent weeks, the MDC has changed its strategy, focusing more on economic issues, employment and the preponderance of violence against its supporters.

Andrew Moyse, project coordinator for the independent Media Monitoring Project, which reviews the domestic media for balance and bias, said that such advertisements seemed likely to hit home.

“I think they do have an impact,” he said. “Largely people are convinced by what they experience. I think it’s much less tangible [to imagine] Britain recolonizing Zimbabwe than a shortage in the staple diet. And those people who have experienced violence will know where [the MDC] is coming from.”

But ZANU-PF’s control of television and radio appears to have given the ruling party the upper hand when it comes to disseminating its message, local observers say.

Statistics gathered by the Media Monitoring Project for the third week of February showed that of the 49 campaign-related stories aired by Zimbabwean state television, 39 favored the ruling party. Five stories, all of which were negative in tone, focused on the MDC, Moyse said, while the remainder were about the little-known National Alliance for Good Governance. The 49 stories lasted a total of 88 minutes, 78 of which focused on ZANU-PF.

A local opinion poll published in mid-February showed Tsvangirai in the lead, but nearly 60% of those surveyed refused to say how they would vote. Government critics have argued that the state has already instituted laws and used underhanded tactics to rig the vote.

On Sunday, Tsvangirai warned of Zimbabwe’s total demise if the ruling party wins.

“If we lose this election, God forbid,” he said, “this country is doomed.”