Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has made fun of former ruling Zanu PF party ally and surprise Presidential aspirant, Simba Makoni, labeling him a prostitute.

Robert Mugabe Blasts Simba Makoni!

Makoni, a former politburo member and finance minister for Zimbabwe, was expelled from Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF last week after registering to run as an independent in the forthcoming March 29 elections.

"What has happened now is absolutely disgraceful. I didn't think that Makoni, after all this experience, would behave like this," Mugabe said.

"I compared him to a prostitute. A prostitute could have done better than Makoni, because she has clients. Don't you think so?" said Mugabe, much to the laughter of Tazzen Mandizvidza who was interviewing the ageing former liberation war hero.

The remarks were the veteran leader's first public comment on the break with Makoni, a reform-minded technocrat who has long been touted as a possible successor to Mugabe.

Makoni says he is backed by top officials in the ruling party and analysts say he could pose a strong challenge to Mugabe.

When he was appointed finance minister in 2000, Makoni solemnly said that he would advocate for a strict tightening of the fiscal spending discipline to restore relations with the donor community which had isolated Zimbabwe and continues to do so.

Mugabe in power since independence 28 years ago has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain in 1980 but critics say his economic mismanagement, and contested policies such as seizures of white-owned farms, have ruined the economy.

The president, who denies opposition charges of rigging past elections, also said he would continue with his anti-British message during the election campaign.

An independent observer group, meanwhile, reported widespread attempts by ZANU-PF members to buy votes in the ruling party's nominating contests before the March 29 presidential, parliamentary and local council elections.

Didymus Mutasa, a senior party official, said that in a number of key election districts more than one ZANU-PF candidate had registered to contest the same seat. Such duplicate registrations threaten to split the ruling party vote to the benefit of the opposition.

Zimbabwe's ruling party, shaken by internal divisions and a potentially strong election challenge to President Robert Mugabe, will expel candidates running against its official nominees in the March vote, the official media said Monday.

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