Zimbabwe's Mugabe confident of victory in '08 poll

HARARE - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe said on Friday he was confident he would be re-elected by a huge margin next year despite an economic meltdown blamed on his government.

But Mugabe said victory would depend on "unity of purpose" and strong organisation among his ruling ZANU-PF party supporters -- some of whom caused a chaotic scene at a congress to endorse him as the party's candidate for the March 2008 vote.

Addressing the same congress, Zimbabwe's Central Bank Governor Gideon Gono, who has been critical of Mugabe's policies, said one of the biggest problems facing the country was corruption.

"One of the problems we have in this country is corruption, corruption, corruption. Your excellency, this country is losing a lot of money from us people in positions of authority," Gono said.

Gono said graft was costing the country around $500 million each year.

Mugabe, Zimbabwe's veteran 83-year-old leader whom the opposition accuse of rigging past elections, said he wanted a victory which would send a message to British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.S. President George W. Bush, both critical of Mugabe's leadership.

"We want a resounding victory which Brown and Bush will take note of," Mugabe said at the close of the congress, which on Thursday formally endorsed him as its candidate in the presidential and parliamentary elections.

"As we leave here, we have a double function, to score an electoral vote and then of course to score agriculturally," he said, urging farmers who got land from his controversial seizure of white-owned farms to raise production to end food shortages.

Zimbabwe, once seen as the breadbasket of Africa, has been forced to import maize and wheat as its agricultural sector ground to a halt.

DISCIPLINE

Mugabe called for discipline in the ZANU-PF ranks. He was forced to intervene after a war veteran leader involved in a political spate with some of his top officials tried to defy orders and march onto the podium to give a speech in support of the veteran president.

Zimbabwe's sole ruler since independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe is seeking to extend his rule for another five years but said ZANU-PF's future would depend on discipline.

"We want discipline, we are for discipline and I shall not have indiscipline in the party that I lead," an angry Mugabe said.

Zimbabwe is gripped by a chronic economic crisis, marked by the world's highest inflation rate, surging unemployment and shortages of foreign currency, fuel and food.

Gono said the central bank was working on measures to end the eight-year economic recession, saying: "Your economy will not be the same again by this time next year."

Previous forecasts of economic recovery have not been met.

Gono also repeated accusations that "cash barons" trading in foreign currency were holding on to 98 percent of all the cash in circulation. The cash shortage has forced customers to jam banking halls in a bid to get money ahead of Christmas.