Tsvangirai, Mujuru ratchet up pressure on Mugabe

Political tension is rising in Zimbabwe, with some parts of the country being rocked by intermittent violence, riots and strikes - amid revelations yesterday that leading opposition players plans to either impeach President Robert Mugabe or force an early general election.

Well-placed sources told the Daily News yesterday that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC and former Vice President Joice Mujuru's People First movement could trigger early polls, possibly as early as this year, as the political climate in the country continues to deteriorate.

Part of the plans being considered, the sources claim, involve on  one hand the MDC withdrawing all its MPs from Parliament, while Mujuru's "original" Zanu-PF that uses the slogan People First - and which is actively fishing for Mugabe's post-congress Zanu-PF MPs - would reduce the ruling party's National Assembly numbers through this courtship, thereby forcing an early general election.

However, analysts say the opposition faces a daunting task to achieve a dissolution of Parliament, as Mujuru would, for example, have to lure more than 100 MPs from the ruling party's 217 legislators for this to happen.