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BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — A top official in Zimbabwe's ruling party said on Saturday he would support a main challenger to President Robert Mugabe in the March 29 election.
Dumiso Dabengwa, a senior politburo member in Mugabe's ZANU-PF, threw his weight behind former finance minister Simba Makoni as he was set to launch his presidential campaign.
The move could significantly strengthen Mr. Makoni's bid to defeat Zimbabwe's veteran leader, who has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
"We urged him (Mr. Makoni) to come clean and take the burden and we will give him the necessary facilitation and support," Mr. Dabengwa, a former home affairs minister, said.
Mr. Dabengwa, who was a commander in the liberation movement before independence, was speaking at a meeting between Mr. Makoni and business leaders in Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo, which has voted for the opposition since 2000.
"It is not about his ability or strength. It's about the people of Zimbabwe and enabling them to chart the manner in which we can face the challenges," he said.
"All Makoni is doing is to create an environment where we can say how we want our country to be governed."
Mr. Mugabe, 84, faces Mr. Makoni, who is standing as an independent after being expelled from ZANU-PF, and Morgan Tsvangirai, a long time rival from the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Mr. Mugabe has capitalized on a weak opposition to maintain a tight grip on the country despite a severe economic crisis.
Zimbabwe's president denounced his opponents as charlatans and witches when he launched his election manifesto on Friday and promised to give stakes in foreign-owned mines to locals.
Critics accuse Mr. Mugabe of wrecking Zimbabwe's economy but he accuses Western foes, especially Britain, of working with the opposition to oust him in retaliation for his policy of seizing white-owned commercial farms to resettle landless blacks.
Mr. Mugabe promised in his manifesto to boost agricultural production by continuing to equip those farmers who had benefited from the land grabs.
Mr. Mugabe's opponents have also made ambitious promises to ease the economic crisis ravaging Zimbabweans, who are more concerned with battling the world's highest inflation rate of more than 100,000 per cent and food and fuel shortages, than politics.
The opposition's failure to unite behind a single candidate has strengthened Mr. Mugabe's chances of re-election on March 29.
The MDC says Mr. Mugabe has fraudulently won previous elections and unleashed violence against opposition supporters.
