The only safe exit for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe “and his cronies” was through the restoration of the rights of the people and the opening up of democratic space, says Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai has told his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) loyalists that his party is “ready to govern”. It has policy packages, which are designed to launch a sustained programme of national revival and reconstruction in the agricultural, mining and tourism sectors, ready for implementation.
Unemployment has risen to dangerous levels but he said the party had “emergency plans to kick start the economy and generate jobs”. A national rescue plan to revive the education and health sectors was in place, he said
The opposition leader — who was defeated in last year’s presidential poll — says that while the MDC was ready to consider President Mugabe’s immediate exit “that should not be a precondition for engaging in transitional dialogue” with the ruling Zanu-PF.
He said that the MDC was determined never to allow “the horrors of the past” to haunt and influence the future.
“We have never preached the politics of vengeance and retribution”.
In a speech released by MDC spokesperson Eddie Cross, Tsvangirai told his Members of Parliament and councillors from Harare — where the MDC holds power — that his party was ready to govern the country.
Cross said in a separate statement that one did not have to be “a rocket scientist to sense that we are near the end of the Mugabe/Zanu-PF regime here in Zimbabwe”.
Cross noted that with South African president Thabo Mbeki headed for Harare next week to view the situation on the ground, Tsvangirai said the MDC “believed that the only way to resolve the current crisis and salvage what remains of the nation is through a process of serious and sincere dialogue”.
But as a demonstration of its sincerity, “the Mugabe regime must immediately put a stop to all forms of state-sponsored violence, uphold the rule of law and respect human rights. All Zanu-PF militias must be disbanded, their training must stop immediately and the war veterans must be disarmed”.
Tsvangirai said it must ensure “that the Zimbabwe Republic Police, the Zimbabwe Defence Forces and the Central Intelligence Organisation operate professionally in accordance with their constitutional mandates and cease to participate in politics as organised units on behalf of Zanu-PF and against the wishes of the people”.
Referring to a transitional period which should lead to new elections, he said the conditions for such elections must be tested against the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Norms and Standards to which even “the Mugabe regime is a willing signatory”.
Domestic and international election observers must be allowed free and unfettered access to observe the polls. There must be unrestricted local, regional and international media coverage of the elections and all the freedoms of association and assembly must be guaranteed, said the MDC leader. – I-Net Bridge