Tsvangirai Denies Writing Guardian Article
An article that appeared in my name, published in the Guardian yesterday, does not reflect my position or opinions regarding solutions to the Zimbabwean crisis.
Although the Guardian was given assurances from credible sources that I had approved the article this was not the case.
By way of clarification I would like to state the following:
I am not advocating for military intervention in Zimbabwe by the United Nations or any other organization. The MDC is committed to finding an African solution to the crisis in Zimbabwe and appreciates the work of SADC in this regard. I am asking the African Union and SADC to lead an expanded initiative, supported by the United Nations, to manage the transitional process. We are proposing that the AU facilitation team, comprising eminent Africans, set up a transitional period which takes into account the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
It is the opinion of the MDC that to address the immediate political, social and economic crisis facing us, four actions must be taken with immediate effect:
- The violence must stop immediately.
- Emergency humanitarian organisations must be allowed to operate freely and without hindrance throughout the country.
- All political prisoners must be freed immediately
- Parliament and Senate must be sworn in and begin working on the people’s business.
We in the MDC appreciate the overwhelming international support from numerous organisations and leaders who recognise that the time for finding a solution to the Zimbabwean crisis is now. We are committed, with the mandate we have from the people, to play the necessary role to ensure that a peaceful, sustainable solution is achieved.
Sincerely
Morgan Tsvangirai
President of the Movement for Democratic Change
(via and MDC Press Release)
The page the article appeared on is down.
June 26th, 2008 02:26
What about the ‘they can shout as much as they like..” speech? That’s real enough.
June 26th, 2008 10:49
I saw a news flash last night on a Dutch TV channel (NOS Journaal) from a Dutch reporter in a secret location in Zimbabwe that he had been informed that 28 tanks, painted white and with the UN logo were amassed on the Mozambique border. Can this be confirmed?
June 26th, 2008 11:16
True Grit, I haven’t seen or heard anything about this. Do you have a direct link to a page carrying this at all?
June 26th, 2008 12:16
Yes. The reporter in the secret location was Bram Vermeulen (appears towards the end of the news bulletin) His actual words were ‘28 armoured vehicles etc.
http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/artikelen/2008/6/25/250608_zimbabwe.html
June 26th, 2008 12:21
Further to my above post. You have to click on to - Tsvangirai wil snel optreden Afrikaanse Unie - in the R/H box to see the video.
June 26th, 2008 12:43
The website for NOS Journaal can be found here: http://www.nos.nl/nosjournaal/voorpagina/index.html
I can’t see any articles relating to UN tanks, but it’s possible that information about this is included in one of the articles on Tsvangirai - I can’t speak Dutch, and the website doesn’t have an English version - any Dutch speakers out there who can help?
June 26th, 2008 14:43
I can translate the relevant piece:
After having explained that Morgan would like either the SADC or the UN to act as a buffer,
the reporter says that it’s interesting that they have heard from reliable sources that they have received information that 28 armoured vehicles, painted white with UN logos, have assembled on the Mozambique/
Zimbabwe border. So it appears, says the reporter, that the hardware material to support Tsvangirai’s request has been ready for some time.
June 26th, 2008 16:54
It is very odd that a ‘reliable source’ would report this on the same day another ‘reliable source’ confirmed that MT supposedly wrote an article for the Guardian.
Surely it is not possible to hide 28 big white tanks on a border? Why are the press not going mad over it?
And all this just before voting day?
hmmmmmmmm … sniff sniff… twitch twitch….
My nose is twitching with rat smells. Wouldn’t it be useful for zanu to have a story about a ‘western invasion’ ripple through the media just before bob asked them to vote against re-colonisation.
June 26th, 2008 21:40
Are we not missing the actual point??????????
Whether Tsvangirai wrote the piece is irrellevant when weighed against the consequences that the piece opens up in relation to innocent MDC members.
Before the Rwanda killings such measures were used to stir hatred against the soon to be murdered.
Every sensible minded person by now agress a deterrence is needed to stop the killings…
What should surprise us and sham us is that after ….10 years…. no such plan exists to put into place…after the evidence of the farm invasions…the 2002 election…Murambatsvina…the March 2007 protests ..now this latest wave of madness..
Ergo when do people start to take measures for ending this mess seriously??????
June 27th, 2008 05:29
Personally, I think Mr Tsvangirai is full of tricks to draw in the International Community.The problems of Zimbabwe can and will only be solved by Zimbabweans, for Zimbabweans.The drama he is performing is not good for the country, today and tomorrow.The International community seem biased in believing the MDC, or Tsvangirai should be made president without an election.Mdc should observe the rule of law.It has been proven they planted people who cheated in the last elections.That election result ought to be nullified.Tsvangirai’s conditions are too many, and he keeps on shifting his positions.I believe he is more stubborn and arrogant than Mugabe, and will not tolerate the same level of tactical opposition if done to him. Personally, whilst admitting Mugabe has overstayed, but Tsvangirai does not appear as if he is the right candidate, or has the will of the people at heart. He just wants to occupy the State House, at whatever cost. He hasn’t even spelt out his economic recovery plan, or the olive branch he hopes to extend to Mugabe and all his civil servants, as happened at Lancaster in 1979.Mugabes style of leadership has been the same since he was a gerrilla fighter. He is consistent, and does not change.People have been beated in virtually the run up to all previous elections.Zimbabweans are not stupid, they know how to vote, and do not require any education to do so.Denying them to vote for a leader of their choice, and hoping to be installed into leadership by the back door through International Sympathy is no way of demonstrating unique leadership qualities for a Zimbabwean President incumbent.MDC should operate within all legal confines of the Zimbabwean Constitution.After all, they have over 90% members of parliament in the house. Tsvangirai’s tactics have always been underhand. Was it not of his stay-aways, campaigns of sunctions etc, Zimbabwe would not be on its belly.He has contributed significantly to the state of affairs in Zimbabwe as a result of his campaigns.He should turn his attention to Zimbabweans to find suitable people to mediate in negotiations,than hope foreigners will do the work for him.I think its high time he resigned from the Zimbabwean Political spectrum.He has caused enough damage and suffering.Zimbabwe’s image will take years to restore abroad.We are a hard working, educated people and we should be able to all go home and sit down to solve our own national affairs, just like what the South Africans. Nigerians and Ghanaians did. But then, they can never sell copies of their constitutions to us, we have to come up with our own, and it starts with facing the demon and creating dialogue. I wonder what type of President MR Tsvangirai will make, with his lack of negotiation skills that he openly displays.As Zimbabweans, we are tired of his tactics and manipulations.He must just come out in the clear, like a tractor driver, as the local saying goes. International sympathy will not take him anywhere. He will end up dying as an asylum seeker in one of the western countries.I am sure Mugabe will give him a better treatment, than what he can get as an Asylum seeker in a foreign country, particularly UK. Look what happened to Canaan Banana.Then, he will learn the true lessons and know the colours of the spots of his masters.He has chickened out of this election, and it does not show his resolute as a leader. We probably need another Lancaster House Conference, but this time hosted by the Chineese, or the Russians.
June 27th, 2008 12:05
EFH @ 27/6, 05.29
There is an awful lot wrong with your analysis, far too much to go into on a bright sunny morning. You just don’t geddit, do you?
Morgan did’nt ‘chicken out’ of the election. How many more womens’ breasts, or limbs cut off, or thrown into the flames alive could a reasonable casndidate endure before calling it quits? He is not asking foreign powers to inaugerate him through the back door. He is asking them to simply act as a buffer, so that a democratic process, and then a negotiated outcome, can be achieved.
As he is the rightful leader of the democratic alliance which opposes Mugabe’s dictatorial regime, he has every right to expect to be the head of a new government. Indeed the people have already spoken as much on March 29th.
As for your ridiculous suggestion regarding a ‘new Lancaster House Conference, but now with the Chinese or Russians’, well, even Mugabe wouldn’t contemplate that!