Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's challengers for the presidency in March elections on Wednesday urged members of his ruling ZANU-PF party to jump ship to bar the 83-year- old leader from securing a sixth term in office, according to dpa. Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, reacting to former Zanu-PF member Simba Makoni's surprise decision to contest the election as an independent, said: "We hope that others in Zanu will follow his lead: that others from Zanu-PF will take a stand." Unveiling his election manifesto in Harare, former finance minister Makoni, 57, who has no party after being ejected from Zanu- PF, also urgedruling party members to run as independent candidates for parliament under his banner. "The time for decision has come. Jump off the fence, climb out of the false comfort zones," he said, amid reports that major business, government and army figures have given him their support. Present at the press conference were a number of former senior party figures but no big-name defectors. Among his immediate priorities Makoni cited resolving food, power, fuel and water problems, abolishing the various exchange rates that fuel black-market currency trading and initiating a process of national healing - without giving details. Makoni, who predicted he and his fellow independents would win the elections "in a landslide," also announced plans for a non-partisan body to haul the country of its current economic crisis, characterized by hyperinflation of over 25,000 per cent, rampant unemployment and food shortages. Makoni's candidacy has injected fresh energy into the election, which had been billed as a walk-over for Mugabe, leader for the past 28 years, after rival MDC factions failed to reunite. But fears of vote-rigging abound after the past three elections were marred by irregularities. "We expect its not going to be a free and fair election," Tsvangirai said. "We want to force him to steal the election," he said, urging South African President Thabo Mbeki not to rubberstamp a fraudulent outcome. "If you won't do it for us, if you won't do it for Africa, do it for your own country. Do it for your own legacy," he said, accusing Mbeki, who was appointed by southern African countries to mediate between ZANU-PF and the MDC, of giving "quiet support for the dictatorship in Zimbabwe." Last week Mbeki declared the two sides had reached "full agreement" on key matters, a claim the MDC rejects. Tsvangirai, 57, who has been the face of the opposition in Zimbabwe for a decade, painted his rival as tainted by association with Mugabe, pointing out Makoni had sat in Zanu-PF's politburo during Mugabe's worst excesses. Tsvangirai did not however rule out a future power-sharing agreement with Makoni, saying he would work with "anyone who is prepared to close ranks against ZANU-PF, against Robert Mugabe." The MDC had threatened to boycott the polls unless they were held under a new draft constitution and the date postponed, demands that have not been met. Asked about the possibility of Kenyan-style post-electoral violence if both parties claim victory in the polls, he said: "Of course it's a concern," but added: "We would never endorse that type of outcome." A day earlier Tsvangirai, his aide and a driver was robbed at gunpoint at the party's Johannesburg offices of their laptop computers, mobile phones and money.
