Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu-PF was ”wasting time” by implementing electoral reforms without taking part in talks with the opposition, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Morgan Tsvangirai, said on Saturday.
Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of about 15 000 supporters, Tsvangirai said President Robert Mugabe’s decision to implement electoral reforms created a ”challenge” for the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
This week the Zimbabwe government announced it would establish what it called an ”independent electoral commission” to oversee future elections in the troubled country.
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The MDC immediately dismissed the reforms as a sham.
”The onus is on the Mugabe regime to play ball,” said Tsvangirai
”They have no choice. They must end violence, they must end intimidation, the must open the space for the MDC on public radio and television. They must place the running of elections in the hands of an impartial electoral body approved by the whole nation. As things stand, they are wasting time.”
Tsvangirai also castigated reforms announced by Zanu-PF, saying: ”Zanu-PF will not carry the spirit of the Mauritius Declaration. The cosmetic changes they are proposing are designed for the preservation of the pillars of dictatorship.”
The MDC leader called on the SADC chairperson Paul Berenger to ”show that SADC has teeth”.
”SADC must push Mugabe to honour his word, and to do so early enough for us to have our elections in March 2005,” he said. – Sapa