Mugabe is scared says former Politburo member

President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party are living in fear of an uncertain future, Mavambo Kusile Dawn (MKD) leader Simba Makoni has said.

Makoni, a former Zanu-PF politburo member, said although Zimbabweans generally live in fear, it is Mugabe and his lieutenants who are scared the most.

Makoni was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of his party's third anniversary celebrations last weekend.

Makoni, who served Zanu-PF for decades, said his former party thrives on inducing fear.

"The most dominant force affecting the daily lives of Zimbabweans at the moment is fear," Makoni said.

"We live in fear of physical harm, material deprivation, discrimination and fear of exclusion in community and national participation. The irony of this is that even those responsible for dispensing this fear on the whole nation are themselves living in fear. Living in fear of losing their power and privileges but more importantly they are living in fear of an uncertain future."

Makoni said the most urgent task facing Zimbabweans particularly those working for genuine change is to help Zimbabweans overcome this fear, adding that there is nothing wrong with Zimbabweans seeking to remove Mugabe's regime through the ballot.

"If it was wrong for the colonial system to deny others their full rights and it was right for such a system to be overthrown, is it any different today," he said.

"Liberation struggle leaders emphasised that the struggle was against a system not an institution and individuals."

"Now we have a system which harasses arrests and imprisons mothers who demonstrate for love on Valentine's Day, detains mothers who demonstrate for stable families on mothers and father's day, a system that harasses mothers and arrests those who demonstrate for inclusion in the new constitution the empowerment of women and entrenchment of justifiable human rights."

He said for those that went through military generals Josiah Tongogara and Lookout Masuku's training, "it is important to remind ourselves of nzira dzemasoja, the code of conduct for revolutionary combatants that guided us on how to treat each other. It is relevant in 2012 as it was in 1977."

Makoni said despite claims that the economy has improved, the reality on the ground is that a significant number of Zimbabweans cannot afford to put food on the table.

"More Zimbabweans go to bed hungry today than they did 30 years ago, fewer children are going to school and fewer of those that are going to school are accessing valuable education they are learning less and less," he said.

"Isn't it a shame that in the 21st century in the year 2012, that Zimbabweans are afflicted by diseases such as cholera and typhoid diseases that had long been eradicated in this country before independence? It bears to remember these lessons," he said.

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