Mugabe Accuses Winning Opponent of Treason

Bloomberg.com

Zimbabwe's main opposition denied allegations in state media that it conspired with the U.K. government to end President Robert Mugabe's rule. The state-controlled Herald newspaper today cited Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying that Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, colluded with U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown to effect ``illegal regime change in Zimbabwe.'' The actions are ``treasonous,'' the newspaper, often used by the government to make official pronouncements, said.


``The reports in today's Herald are absolute rubbish,'' George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said in an interview today from Johannesburg. ``No one familiar with Zimbabwe should be surprised by these tactics of defamation and lies. They are typical of Mugabe's regime and its mouthpiece newspapers.''


Tsvangirai competed in presidential elections on March 29 in which he sought to end Mugabe's 28-year rule of the southern African nation. Results from the vote, which the MDC says its leader won with 50.3 percent of the vote, haven't been released by the Electoral Commission yet. Opposition parties ended the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front's majority in the lower House of Assembly in a parliamentary poll held at the same time. Tsvangirai has twice faced charges of treason in Zimbabwe, which can carry the death penalty. On both occasions, the charges were thrown out of court for lack of evidence.