AFRICA
Get rid of sell-outs - Mugabe
2008-6-15 17:26 Harare
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe was quoted on Sunday as saying he would be willing to hand power to a ruling party ally when he was sure the country was safe from "sell-outs" and from British interference.
But the state-run Sunday Mail newspaper said he gave no time-frame and again vowed to stop the opposition taking power.
Mugabe is fighting for re-election in a June 27 run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The opposition leader won the first round in March, but not with enough votes to take the presidency.
The veteran Zimbabwean leader, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, has threatened to go to war to stop a Tsvangirai victory.
The Mail said Mugabe had told a campaign rally late on Saturday that his "leadership was prepared to relinquish power to those (Zanu-PF officials) that uphold the country's (independence) legacy".
"This country cannot be sold at the stroke of a pen," he said, repeating a vow not to let the MDC, whom he has branded as British puppets, rule the country.
The Mail said Mugabe urged supporters to concentrate on defending his government's land nationalisation and black economic empowerment policies, and not on complaints by what he called "sell-outs" that Zanu-PF has been in power for too long.
Mugabe said "the country's leaders would pass on the baton to individuals that are known to be committed to Zimbabwe's independence ideals", the newspaper quoted him as saying.
"We are the custodians of Zimbabwe's legacy. We will pass this on to those we know are fully aware of the party's ideology, those who value the country's legacy.
"We will pass on leadership to them, telling them to move forward."
Mugabe has previously said he did not want to name an heir over fears he or she would become a target of other officials nursing ambitions to succeed him as Zanu-PF leader.
Reuters