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Mbeki is not an honest mediator in Zimbabwean crisis –
Tsvangirai
Accra, April 22, Ghanadot/GNA– Zimbabwean
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader,
Morgan Tsvangirai, on Tuesday said South African President
Thabo Mbeki was “not an honest mediator” in the Zimbabwean
electoral crisis.
He told journalists in Accra that the MDC was disturbed by
the role President Mbeki was playing in undermining the
victory of the people of Zimbabwe in the March 29, 2008
elections.
“We are disturbed by his comments regarding the crisis in
our country as well as his disinformation campaign during
the recent Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)
meeting in Mauritius and during the just-ended United
Nations Security Council meeting in New York,” he said.
President Mbeki was widely reported in the international
media to have said that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe, a
position the MDC considers to be biased for a neutral
mediator to have made.
Mr. Tsvangirai said contrary to President Mbeki assertion of
the situation in Zimbabwe, 10 people have so far been
killed, 500 injured and hospitalized and thousands displaced
from their homes.
He therefore called on President Mbeki to be bold and take
the historic opportunity of the Zimbabwean crisis to side
with the people and not with any political party.
Mr. Tsvangirai is in Accra to meet with some the world
leaders attending the ongoing United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) meeting.
He has held separate meetings with President John Agyekum
Kufuor of Ghana and the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.
Mr. Tsvangirai said he told both leaders about the situation
in Zimbabwe and the MDC’s own position on the issue and
received “good counsel” from both leaders on how to resolve
the crisis.
He reiterated MDC’s position on the proposed run-off with
President Robert Mugabe, saying, “we wish to restate in
front of our African brothers that we will not participate
in a stage-managed run-off simply because Robert Mugabe does
not want to accept that we won the elections decisively.”
Mr. Tsvangirai explained that by law the electoral results
should have been declared and verified by all stakeholders
before a run-off could be declared, but a runoff was
unnecessary in the case where Zanu-PF started to prepare for
a run-off when the results had for the past 23 days not be
declared.
“In any case, figures we compiled show that we won the
presidential election decisively by 50.3 per cent and that
is more than the 50 per cent plus one votes required by the
constitution for a winner to be declared,” he stressed.
He accused Mr. Mugabe of overseeing a carefully planned and
orchestrated military plan that had altered the electoral
environment and created an environment of fear and
intimidation with people being killed.
“Robert Mugabe is a liberation hero on our continent and he
must be convinced to respect the wishes and democratic
rights of the people of Zimbabwe and make a graceful exit.
“We are calling on every village and every city, every
ethnic community, every man and woman, every head of state
in Africa to stand in defence of the people of Zimbabwe,” he
said.
Mr. Tsvangirai said the reputation of Africa may suffer
seriously if President Mugabe was allowed to undermine the
results of a democratic election by refusing to transfer
power knowing he had lost the popular support of the people
of Zimbabwe.
Asked what he intended to do with President Mugabe if he
became president he said: “Nothing, because Mugabe is an
important figure in the history of Zimbabwe and Africa and
we are aware of that so we intend to maintain that
reputation of his heroism.”
He debunked assertions that he had stayed out of Zimbabwe
for longer than usual because he feared to return home,
saying that it was part of his and MDC’s strategy for him to
do more diplomatic consultations to ensure wide-spread
international involvement in the Zimbabwean crisis.
“Nobody can stop me from going to Zimbabwe, when I am ready
I will return home and safely too,” he said.
GNA
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