Statement by Morgan Tsvangirai on the state of the dialogue
Suffering of Zimbabweans
Today is exactly 24 days after the signing of the global political agreement between ourselves and ZANU PF. On the day we signed the agreement the people of Zimbabwe breathed a sigh of relief and their hopes for a final resolution of this crisis were raised. Unfortunately no progress has been made since then, to bring the Zimbabwean people to the beginning of the path of recovery. Instead the economic crisis has worsened with people spending all their days in endless cash queues. We now live in an environment characterised by hunger and starvation and we are days way from seeing people dropping dead on the streets. I believe suffering knows no political affiliation and both ZANU PF and MDC supporters are suffering under this economic crisis.The agricultural season is upon us yet the nation is not prepared to take full advantage of what promises to be a good season.
We have just witnessed the conclusion of a disastrous education year in the history of our country, with the national examination board crippled by the economic crisis to the extent of failing to implement the Grade 7 examination sitting for this year. The countries universities are failing to open for the next semester due to the economic crisis.
I stated at my last press conference that given a nation in such a state it was necessary to put a government in place in order for us to begin the task of ensuring that the problems facing our country are dealt with. I believe that as leaders we have a duty of ensuring that we reward Zimbabweans for their patience and commitment to peace by ensuring we succeed in working together. We have actively engaged our colleagues in ZANU PF with a view to ensuring that we have agreement on the outstanding issues. May l take this opportunity to brief the nation on the state of the dialogue.
State of the dialogue
We have been engaging with our colleagues in ZANU PF at both the negotiators and principals level.
In particular we have been deliberating on the allocation of ministries. There has been no progress made on this entire section as ministries can only be negotiated comprehensively and not individually. It is not true to say that we are left with two ministries to negotiate as any agreement reached on those two particular ministries would have an effect on the allocation of the rest of the ministries. In this regard we have declared a deadlock and therefore the process can not move forward except in the presence of the facilitator.
I would like to emphasise that in looking at the allocation of ministries we have been informed by our desire as MDC ,of ensuring that we have a fair power sharing arrangement that allows us to deal with the current economic crisis while at the same time ensuring that we guarantee the basic freedoms for our people as well as democratize our society.
We have not yet deliberated on the outstanding issue of the allocation of governors. This issue remains outstanding considering that as negotiating parties we agreed that the allocation of governors must be in the spirit of the result of the election on the 29th of March 2008.
There is still an outstanding issue of omissions made in the signed agreement at the signing ceremony on the 15th of September, that had been agreed and initialled by all parties when we signed the original agreement on the 11th of September 2008. We are assured that the facilitator will sort out this problem and provide an updated document to the general public.
Lack of paradigm
We are concerned by the lack of paradigm shift on the part of our colleagues in ZANU PF and have watched with dismay their continued hate language in the state media which is destroying the hope of our people as well as their confidence in this power sharing arrangement, the continued trumped up charges brought against our Secretary General, members of parliament and various members of our party structures across the country, the continued discrimination on the basis of political affiliation mainly taking place in the rural areas, the continued interference with, and threatening of, our councils, by the illegal minister of local government, the lack of sincerity and commitment to working together demonstrated by what should be a simple administrative issue like issuing my passport, which has been turned into a political weapon by our colleagues in ZANU PF.
Throughout this negotiation effort up to the signing of the global political agreement we have compromised on many ocassions with a view to ensuring that the political crisis in our country is resolved in the interest of our nation.We are committed to change and therefore do not have challenges accepting change in its many forms. ZANU PF is not sensitive to the plight of the people and therefore has not gone through a paradigm shift of accepting the change created by signing the global political agreement.
SADC and AU are the guarantors
The global political agreement we have is guaranteed by SADC and the African Union and therefore in the event of a dispute or deadlock as we have now, the matter should be taken to SADC and AU in order for them to assist us. We have communicated this position to the African Union and to SADC as well as to the facilitator and have confidence that our African brothers will do everytihng in their power to ensure that this issue is resolved with speed.
We as Zimbabweans owe it to our African counterparts to ensure that we spare no effort in resolving the outstanding issues. We look forward to working with SADC, AU, and the facilitator in order to find a solution.
I thank you
Morgan Tsvangirai
October 9th, 2008 17:38
Very proud of Morgan for standing up for what he knows is right for all Zimbabweans,DEMOCRACY AND NOTHING LESS, stay strong the end is near as this cannot go on for much longer.I am amzed however how this whole thing is dragging on while the majority are suffering and dying. Only one word:SHOCKING !!!
October 9th, 2008 19:31
“Not sensitive to the plight of the people”. The man is a master of understatement.
I am afraid that with their present preoccuption, our leaders in SA may also fail to recognise the plight of Zimbabweans.
Should we be bombarding them with email complaints about the lack of public statements on Zimbabwe? Right now, I’m not sure who to send them to any more?
I personally don’t care which faction gets to lead the ANC, as long as something is done to help Zimbabwe move forward - like spelling out to Mugabe and his thugs what’s awaiting them if they don’t compromise with Tsvangirai who after all is meeting the more than half way.
October 9th, 2008 21:32
Sally D has a good point. South Africa has its own major problems right now. We have to look elsewhere… we should start sending emails, another email campaign to Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania first as they at least have the interests of Zimbabwe people at heart rather than the top politicians only. We can request their intervention. Who in the African Union can we approach. We need to put pressure on them again… and on the UN people?
October 9th, 2008 22:06
Come on everyone. We have waited too long. Let’s get this email campaign going. I’ve just sent to SADC and AU people. Let’s get going again. Let’s try again. We got good response before… we have to push them again.
October 10th, 2008 07:41
I don’t mean to imply that South African leaders should be left to their navel gazing - Zimbabwe IS one of our major problems right now and ordinary South Africans are aware of that.
I now see that we’ve sent in the spooks, in the substantial shape of Ronnie Kasrils, our former Minister of Intelligence. Hilton Dennis of the Secret Service (our MI5) and Manala Manzini of the National Intelligence Agency (our MI6).
This is getting rather weird but there are interesting resonances. Kasrils is Mr Clean Up. He refers to democracy as “fresh air”, kicked off his stint as Intelligence Minister by distributing a fridge magnet with “the five principles of professionalism” and has a nice line in bedtime stories, like the one about the African King who had to learn the meaning of service. That should keep Uncle Bob awake, if he isn’t too unsettled by the experience of talking to a white person who’s a social democrat with military credentials (as opposed to the materialistic industrial lowlife Bob usually favours).
If nothing else, Big Ronnie could contribute to sorting out Zimbabwe’s dire sanitation system as he did a good job of that here.
I just hope they realise how short time is for Zimbabwe now.
October 10th, 2008 15:59
It is just so bloody sad. The once bread basket of southern Africa as been reduced to this and who with power cares? Certainly not Mbeki he has no power any more. What now?
October 11th, 2008 07:23
It is obvious that Zanu-PF are just not able to let go because of the consequences to themselves and the loss of privilege and protection. Morgan is a saint and has the patience of Job, but even he can’t be expected to go on trying forever. His patriotism is magnificent. Many others would have given up by now.
October 11th, 2008 14:30
OK Zimbabwe, it’s time to make a plan and implement it.
The current illegal government will cease to exist if it hits a cash-flow wall. We’re already close and government is actually weak and tottering on collapse.
We’ve already seen the army balk at not getting the pay they expected. They will walk away if it stops altogether. So will the repressive Zim police and the CIO.
We need to set up a de facto operating system outside the current rotten and rotting regime.
Make a plan to only deal by barter or use of foreign currency…c’mon, make a plan. We can set up our own local police and courts and work with them. These should be people we trust and then we can give them our support. Find any way you can to deprive grandpa Bob and his cronies of any comfort including any way around paying import duties. Avoid any dealing with government.
Make a plan! Create your own government and let it slowly (or quickly) usurp real government power until the current one is consumed and marginalized into non-existence.
All of these things can be done without any significant violence although we can expect violence from Bob and friends. Big deal, we’ve already been there.
All of these things can be organized at the local level. Let’s stop wringing our collective hands. WE CAN DO IT!
MAKE A PLAN!!!