Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 11 February 2010 — Page 9

The Muncie Times • February 11, 2010 • Page 9

continued from page 1 the helm of the Zimbabwe government for 30 years, Mrs. Mujuru would be the logical person to take over as president. She turns 55 in April. She joined Zimbabwe's liberation struggle in 1973, when she was 18 and rose through the ranks to become a commander, one of the few women to do so, among the liberation forces. Her nom de guerre during the liberation war was Teurai Ropa (Spill Blood). She is credited with single-handedly shooting down a Rhodesian Air Force helicopter in 1974. In 1980, at age 25, she became the youngest Cabinet minister at independence as white minor-ity-ruled Rhodesia was transformed into black majority-ruled Zimbabwe in 1980. She is married to Solomon Tapfumaneyi Mujuru, a former guerrilla commander who became the first black general in 1980 when he became the first black African to command the Zimbabwe National Army. Although he is now retired from the army and is concentrating on business dealings, Solomon Mujuru is still a powerful figure within the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), the Mugabe-led political party that has guided Zimbabwe since independence in April 1980. He is seen, by some, as a kingmaker to whom

From Left: Dr. Tendayi Kumbula, retired Gen. Solomon Mujuru, Vice President Mujuru Seated ZANU-PF leader Ray Kaukonde and Musekiwa Kumbula

Mugabe is beholden because in the 1970s he is said to have convinced guerrilla fighters in Mozambigue to throw their support to Mugabe. Amai Mujuru (amai is the Shona word for mother) sees her role as being the mother of the nation. She is simple but passionate about her ideas for Zimbabwe. Where Mugabe is seen as haughty, scornful and dismissive of those, mainly Zimbabweans and Westerners, who disagree with him, Mrs. Mujuru tends to be charming, persuasive and motherly. She can make some of the arguments that Mugabe and other ZANU-PF leaders make, but without the rancor. She prefers to be persuasive and convincing. You may disagree with her, but the discussion does not become disagreeable. In a wide-ranging

breakfast interview at her spacious home here, Mrs. Mujuru defended Zimbabwe's controversial land redistribution policy which saw many formerly white-owned farms being seized and given to new black farmers. Partly as a result of that, Zimbabwe has been transformed from a net food exporter to a net food importer, with millions of people depending on food handouts from the government and non-governmental organizations. The Mugabe government came under attack when it allowed some veterans of the country's liberation war and their supporters to seize productive farms, some of which were allowed to lie fallow, after crops planted by white commercial farmers had been harvested and sold. Hundreds of thousands

of farm workers were also displaced and left homeless and jobless, once the farmers had been forcibly taken over. "A country that fought a liberation war for land cannot afford to see its resources plundered. In the 1990s, we wanted to work together (with the white minority) on the land. But when that did not happen, the war veterans (and their supporters) had to go and get the land. Maybe this was not the best way to proceed. But we had to do something," Mrs. Mujuru said. "So war veterans and their supporters had to go and get the land. Maybe it was not the best way to do it. Maybe we could have worked together another way. "Zimbabwe is not a poor country. We have our diamonds and gold. Geologists tell we have more diamonds than

(neighboring) Botswana, some say that's why the Western countries are fighting us—for the diamonds under the land. We will use our gold and diamond reserves to back our currency." The United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Sweden and other European Union members have imposed targeted sanctions at Mugabe, his wife, Grace, the Mujurus and about 200 senior ZANU-PF, military, police, counterintelligence and prison officials. The Western countries said these sanctions targeted Mugabe and other senior officials accused of human rights violations or impeding democratic governance in Zimbabwe. The named officials are barred from entering most Western countries, except to attend international conferences, keeping bank accounts in those countries, the sanctions, which are also supported by Australia, Canada and New Zealand, also- ban certain named companies ' s 1 from doing business with or in the affected Western countries. Mugabe and his people have campaigned vigorously to have the sanctions removed. They have also emerged as a stumbling in the ongoing talks between ZANU-PF and its political rivals, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Prime Minister Morgan continued on page 44