ZIMBABWE:IT COULD take more than 10 years to bring Zimbabwe's crippled economy back to its previous status as one of Africa's healthiest, presidential hopeful Simba Makoni warned yesterday.
The former minister for finance, along with Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai, is challenging president Robert Mugabe in tomorrow's presidential election.
He said taking the economy back to the level it was at in the mid-1990s, when Zimbabwe was considered the bread basket of Africa, would be his main priority if elected.
"We must deal with the crises that are gripping the country, the food crisis, the water and sanitation crisis, the energy crisis . . .
"This is not about the first six months after March 29th or even the first five years . . . It could range from 10 to 15 years," he told local reporters.
Mr Makoni, who was Zimbabwe's finance minister until 2002 when he was fired by Mr Mugabe after a row over devaluing the country's currency, added that, aside from restoring the economy, reconciliation would also be a priority.
"We must begin to lay the foundation for the reconciliation, the national healing . . . the removal of the fear that pervades our lives everyday, the restoration of trust and mutual confidence among our people," he said.
When asked during the week by a foreign journalist why Zimbabweans should trust him considering he played a significant role in Zanu-PF until his 2002 fall from grace and only left the ruling party last month, he replied that he had been trying to affect change from within the party.
"I spent eight years working behind the scenes. You might question that tactic now but I was trying to change things from within," he said.
The MDC's Mr Tsvangirai told thousands of supporters on Wednesday that he would introduce a new currency as part of his efforts to revive the economy.
"The economy is dead," he told his supporters in Murewa, 80km east of Harare, the capital.
"My government will introduce a new currency as a way of improving and stabilising our economy."
Zimbabwe is experiencing food shortages at the most basic level, unemployment stands at about 80 per cent while inflation is running at over 100,000 per cent.
Meanwhile, Mr Mugabe once again warned members of the opposition yesterday that he would not tolerate post-election violence if the election did not go their way.
"Just dare try it [post-election violence]," Mr Mugabe said in an article in the state-run Heraldnewspaper.
"We don't play around while you try to please your British allies.
"Just try it and you will see. We want to see you do it."