Zimbabwe: Biti says immunity offer will encourage Mugabe to step down

20 July, 2010 in Zimbabwe

source: SW Radio Africa
By Lance Guma
19 July 2010

Finance Minister Tendai Biti has suggested that ZANU PF leader Robert Mugabe and several of his senior army generals are hanging onto power because they fear prosecution for human rights abuses, once they step down.

Addressing delegates to a meeting organized by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, Biti is reported to have cheekily offered an olive branch saying, ‘let’s tell them that they can leave and not lose their farms or (get) arrested.’ The CZI meeting was organized to review the 2010 mid-term budget statement the Finance Minister had presented to Parliament last week Wednesday.

The suggestion to offer immunity has been made several times in the past with various think tanks, including the International Crisis Group, putting forward the idea. Last year South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance joined the fray suggesting a favourable exit strategy for Mugabe was the only way he will ever relinquish power. Some analysts however say it raises the question of who has the right to [continue reading]

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