President Robert Mugabe will never step down, Finance Minister Tendai Biti has suggested, creating an image of a lonely man with few interests outside politics, and a determination to cling to power to the bitter end.
Biti told the UK-based Independent newspaper that he felt pity for the 88-year-old Zanu PF leader, who is criticised for alleged human rights abuses and the slow pace of democratic reform.
After 32 years in power, he knows nothing else, Biti said.
I know the joy of walking into a supermarket, watching the Black Rhinos (soccer match) or going to church without anyone raising a furore. He does not know there is a beautiful life outside politics. He would never want to retire. I think he will never step down.
Biti also launched a spirited defence of his MDC-T partys record in government.
He rejected suggestions that his party had lost credibility by cosying up to Zanu PF, which entered the fragile coalition with the MDC-T after disputed, violence-plagued elections in 2008. But the power sharing has proved bitter and fractious.
We have not stolen money. Zanu PF has tried to trap us. There are many temptations in politics. They have thrown everything at us except incest, Biti said in an interview in Harare.
The people of Zimbabwe know that we are the party that has given them time-out (economically).
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The past 39 months have shown that we are nobodys puppets and we are ready to govern on the basis of a simple decision-making matrix: what is best for our people and the country.
International donors refuse to pay aid directly to the Zimbabwean treasury. As a result, Biti presides over a peppercorn budget of $4billion, 70% of which he spends on civil servants salaries.
He said the countrys new diamond field, Marange, had brought in only $19m to the treasury since the beginning of the year, whereas he had expected $77m.
Human rights groups have expressed concern that Mugabes party plans to use the proceeds from diamond mines to fund violence and intimidation in coming elections accusations denied by Zanu PF.
Biti said the country urgently needed to put in place structures such as a state diamond exploration company to ensure that those diamonds sweat for us and not for thieves and middlemen.
Under the deal that followed the disputed elections in 2008, Zimbabwe is expected to move towards fair elections.
But the process of writing a new constitution has become mired in infighting. Mugabe has suggested he will call elections with or without a new constitution.
While Biti said elections could probably not be held this year because the state coffers were too low, Mugabe has insisted money has to be found.
