By Nelson Banya
Simba Makoni, a former finance minister and senior ZANU-PF official who will compete with Mugabe for the state presidency on March 29, said on Thursday he was confident of victory.
"Let me encourage those others in ZANU-PF who have been, and are still working with us in this project for national renewal, to remain steadfast and not be intimidated ... for the dawn of a new beginning is upon us," Makoni said.
"Which section or article of ZANU-PF's constitution provides for self-expulsion? I haven't seen it," Makoni said, adding he would continue in his position as a member of the party's top policy-making body, the politburo.
Makoni dismissed allegations -- mainly in the state media -- that his move to challenge Mugabe was funded by the West.
"Any different ideas are regarded as antagonistic and foreign," Makoni said, dismissing suggestions that his campaign was a ploy by ZANU-PF to confuse the electorate and split the opposition's predominantly urban vote.
Makoni -- regarded as a reform-minded technocrat -- has for years been touted as a possible successor to Mugabe, although critics say he lacks a political base of his own.
(Editing by Phumza Macanda and Andrew Roche)
