* Mugabe exploits ZANU-PF leadership factions to hang on
* President faces battle to stretch 32 years of power
* Old age, ill health and young voters pose challenge
* Fear party hardliners will resort to violent campaign
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE, Dec 11 (Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert
Mugabe was endorsed again by his party to stand for elections
expected next year, but analysts say even for a veteran
political survivor, the 87-year-old leader will find it harder
to convince voters to extend his rule after 32 years in power.
Mugabe, they said, would face young voters, many born after
independence from Britain in 1980, who may not be overly
impressed with his party’s tales of its leadership role in the
liberation struggle and are instead desperate to find jobs in
the country which has the world’s highest unemployment rate.
ZANU-PF members want Mugabe to hand over the reins to a
younger leader, but nobody has ever openly challenged him due to
a generous political patronage system and his ability to
patiently wear down opponents and keep them guessing on his next
move.
“Mugabe has kept going by looking after everybody in some
way, balancing various interests, managing the warring factions
fighting over who takes over from him and cynically making
himself the glue holding ZANU-PF together,” said Eldred
Masunungure, political science professor at the University of
Zimbabwe.
Continued…
