Statement issued by Mutambara formation of the MDC, August 21 2008
Via Politicsweb:
MDC COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS IN THE SADC DIALOGUE
The MDC National Council held an all day meeting on 20 August 2008 and deliberated on various issues affecting the country. Council received the report of the negotiating team to the SADC mediated dialogue on the resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis and
a. Noted that the draft agreement provides for power sharing among the political parties on the basis of the results of the 29th March 2008 harmonised elections.
b. Noted that the draft agreement is a fair and reasonable compromise on power sharing on the basis of which the parties may move forward to rebuild the country in the interest of the people.
c. Resolved to appeal to the parties to the dialogue to seriously consider finalising the dialogue and signing the global agreement.
d. Resolved to endorse the resolutions of the SADC Extraordinary Summit of the Organ on Peace, Defence and Security of the 17 August 2008 encouraging and appealing to the parties to sign any outstanding agreements and conclude the negotiations as a matter of urgency.
e. Expressed appreciation and thanked His Excellency, President Thabo Mbeki, President of the Republic of South Africa and his facilitation team of Minister Sydney Mufamadi, Director General, Frank Chikane and Legal Counsel, Mr Mojanku Gumbi for their commitment and dedication in helping Zimbabwe resolve her problems and in particular expressed appreciation to the South African government for the resources and facilities it committed to the dialogue process.
f. Expressed gratitude and appreciation to the SADC Heads of State and governments for the commitment and determination to assist the people of Zimbabwe in finding solutions to the country’s crisis.
g. Expressed thanks to and congratulated the party’s negotiating team for the good work they are doing in the negotiations.
h. Deliberated extensively on the issue which appeared in the media alleging that some of the party’s MPs had attacked the party leadership on allegations that they (the leadership) had signed a sell-out deal to form a government with ZANU (PF) without the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai.
i. Council noted the denials of the Members of Parliament repudiating and disassociating themselves from statements attributed to them in the media.
j. Reiterated the party’s policy that only its official spokespersons are permitted to speak to the media on party affairs and underlined that as the party’s supreme organ in between Congresses all officers of the Party including its Members of Parliament are bound by and must at all times submit themselves to the authority and resolutions of the Council in terms of the Party’s Constitution.
Professor Welshman Ncube
Secretary General
August 22nd, 2008 20:23
Horseshit..!!!!!
August 22nd, 2008 22:13
Someone translate - do they want to sign?
August 22nd, 2008 22:21
I don’t agree it’s speaking on “party affairs” if an MP speaks personally and says that he is not going to betray the hopes of the people who voted for him no matter what Mutambara says. Those people are not speaking for the party as a whole, just for themselves. But even if they were, is that worse than speaking on behalf of voters, who risked much to vote for the MDC at all, and who gave Mutambara no mandate for this power-jockeying?
This statement from Ncube does nothing to address the widespread fears that something has gone badly wrong with Mutambara’s faction at the level of moral fibre.
This is so sad and worrying. Fair and reasonable compromise?! In whose world, Professor?
August 23rd, 2008 02:44
Items (h), (i) and (j) don’t actually say anything or articulate any position or resolution. So we are left wondering whether to believe statements in various sections of the Zimbabwean press, saying variously that some of the leadership were “accused” of working with Zanu-PF, or that others in the formation were “accused” of working with the Tsvangirai MDC to ease Mugabe from power.
It is always easier and safer to simply disregard the kind of mud that gets thrown around especially in some of the semi-independent press. However the Prof’s statement seems to draw attention to these goings-on in a very unhelpful way, and without leaving us any the wiser as to what is considered a good or a bad thing in this formation at the moment.
All we see in these statements is the exercise of power but nothing about the cause or direction in which that power is to be exercised.
August 25th, 2008 16:45
What the professor has exposed, as far I am concerned is as hazey if not as clear as mud.
Typically representative of his political vision.
Delighting in abstractions that hinder his own understanding of his political vision.