“Makoni closest to what Mugabe used to be’

Before the March elections, he had a big presence in SA, with his campaign often advertised in SA’s media.
 
Makoni’s participation in the March 29 presidential election earned him 8,3% of the votes, costing Tsvangirai the clear-cut lead he needed to avert a runoff.

With polarisation between Zanu (PF) and MDC, Makoni could have been the kingmaker, helping the two sides reach a power-sharing agreement.

The 58-year-old appears fully conscious of his likely role in the political gridlock in which Zanu (PF) and the military have no desire to hand power to anyone except one of their own.

Similarly, the MDC would not accept a Zanu (PF) victory.

“Soon after the March 29 polling, some of us started canvassing that leaders immediately engage each other towards an accommodation,” Makoni said in Johannesburg last week.

“We pleaded that we should not wait until there were bodies to bury. Regrettably, we are already too late.”

A struggle background, a PhD obtained from a British institution and his appointment as deputy agriculture minister at the unlikely age of 30, give Makoni unmatched credentials, helped by his moderate, well-cultivated persona. The similarities with President Robert Mugabe are stark.

“He is the nearest to what Mugabe used to be,” says University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer John Makumbe.

Makoni seems to appeal to those in the black middle class opposed to Mugabe yet also uncomfortable about Tsvangirai’s liberalism.

Makumbe describes Makoni as a schemer pushing for a government of national unity, hoping to be included in it.

“He’s a thoroughly great guy, but I think he’s really trying to short-change both guys (Mugabe and Tsvangirai) and benefit himself,” he says.

When Makoni was executive secretary of the Southern African Development Community in the mid-1980s, talk was the foreign appointment would shield the likely heir from Zanu (PF)’s more ruthless presidential hopefuls.

So too was his deployment at state-controlled Zimpapers, when the media company had some of its best years.

His appointment as finance minister seemed to signal his rising star. But he quit after an apparent fallout with Mugabe over Mugabe’s aversion to economic reform, which enhanced Makoni’s reputation for independent-mindedness.

Makoni says his Mavambo-Kusile-Dawn movement, launched in February, is motivated by a desire to save the country. Yet some are suspicious of his middle-ground approach to politics, particularly his reluctance to endorse Tsvangirai.

“Simba is a product of Zanu (PF)’s internal succession battles and lack of renewal policies rather than emerging from the broad masses,” says a Harare-based commentator.

Makoni’s bid for office could best be described as stirring but not shaking the Zanu (PF) establishment.
 
Even then, some of his reformist backers still in the ruling party are seen as having lost ground to the rival faction headed by Rural Housing Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa.

But with Mugabe still in the running, Makumbe believes that most in the senior leadership will not take any chances on backing Makoni because they will still wish to benefit from Mugabe’s largesse.

Brian Raftopoulos, an Institute for Justice and Reconciliation researcher, says Makoni’s movement would advance Zimbabwe’s position only if he acknowledged the results of the March 29 elections and accorded respect to Tsvangirai’s performance.