A ZIMBABWEAN rocket scientist has swept back into his country after 15 years abroad and launched himself as a radical opposition leader, vowing to bring down President Robert Mugabe and end the misrule that has left millions on the edge of starvation.

“We can’t expect the outside world to bring about change,” said Arthur Mutambara, 39, in his first newspaper interview since being named leader of a breakaway faction of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

“As a Zimbabwean, I’ve had enough of seeing my fellow citizens suffering. The game’s up. I’m going to remove Robert Mugabe, I promise you, with every tool at my disposal.”

Zimbabweans have been astonished by the sudden arrival on the political scene of one of the country’s most eminent expatriate academics. His last involvement in politics was in leading the first student protests against Mugabe in 1989. Since then he has completed a doctorate in robotics and mechatronics at Merton College, Oxford, and worked on the American space programme. He has been a professor of robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other American universities and a management consultant for McKinsey & Company.

He recently moved to South Africa, from where he has been travelling to Zimbabwe as a consultant, and says he has been horrified by its deterioration.

Violent “redistribution” of farms to Mugabe’s cronies has caused food production to plummet so low that people have been fighting with dogs over scraps in rubbish dumps.

Inflation is more than 600%. Teachers send pupils out to sell sweets to supplement their salaries and students are on strike after a 700% increase in fees.

“I felt ashamed that my country, which has so much potential, has become the basket case of Africa,” said Mutambara.

His decision to intervene was prompted by a crisis in the opposition. After contesting three rigged elections the MDC split in November when its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, decided not to fight for seats in a new senate, even though the party’s national executive had voted to participate in the poll.

“I felt we were going backwards,” Mutambara said. “It’s all very well to keep analysing the situation but I decided to walk the talk and actually get involved.”

Last week the so-called “pro-senate MDC” held a congress in Bulawayo at which the split was formalised and Mutambara emerged as leader. His backers include the MDC’s secretary-general, Welshman Ncube. He claims the support of 24 of the party’s 40 MPs.

The so-called “anti-senate” faction led by Tsvangirai will hold its own congress next week and a legal battle is underway over the use of the party’s name and funds.

The division seems to be playing into the hands of Mugabe, who celebrated his 82nd birthday last weekend with a lavish party while many of his countrymen went hungry.

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