Tag: Movement For Democratic Change (MDC)

  • Will There Ever Be An Agreement Between Mugabe and Tsvangirai?

    Mugabe and Tsvangirai at a Deadlock Over Government of National Unity

    It has been over a month since ZANU-PF and MDC signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) where the parties agreed to talks to reach a solution on the Zimbabwe situation. As of yet no resolution has been reached and the parties are very much at logger heads. As the cartoon depicts (courtesy of newzimbabwe.com) you have two people wanting to be in control and steering in opposite directions with the only outcome in such a situation being a stall. A stall is exactly what has come of the talks as both parties try to figure out how much power Mugabe or Tsvangirai will have in a unity government. On one hand you have got Mugabe who does not want to and will not let go power and on the other you have Tsvangirai who wants complete power and Mugabe out of the picture.

    Tsvangirai was reportedly offered a Prime ministerial role with Mugabe remaining as President. He refused to sign the document stating that it left him “without adequate authority to engineer economic recovery and overcome repression”. One of his main concerns with the Role of Prime Minister document was paragraph two which states that he would be a Member of Cabinet and its Deputy Chairperson (Click here to read the Role of Prime Minister Document) which leaves Mugabe as the head of cabinet (Click here to read an extract from the Constitution of Zimbabwe outlining the role of the President) and basically an overall say in matters of the state.

    The impasse between the ZANU-PF and MDC has not stopped the political process in Zimbabwe as Parliament is set to open on August 26 even though under the MoU was not meant to happen until an agreement had been reached. Mugabe was reportedly also given the green light to convene parliament by SADC. This move raises a few eyebrows because it seems as if SADC is leaning more towards a government that is headed by Mugabe.

    Whilst Tsvangirai is protesting this move he is slowly getting sidelined once again as parliament opens and on top of that Mugabe has appointed ministers and governors, some of whom lost their seats during the March elections. Many in the West are crying foul over the decision to convene parliament before an agreement has been reached but this will do nothing to stop Mugabe going ahead with his plans. Mugabe is not a stupid man and is doing what it takes to keep in power and it was only earlier in the year that he said MDC would never rule Zimbabwe.

    Chances are Tsvangirai will not get anything better than what he is being offered at the moment, not as long as Mugabe is at the helm. If he does not wake up soon he will be sidelined as has been the case since he started trying to remove Mugabe from office. ZANU-PF and possibly other MDC members will move on and continue to rule the country however they see fit and continue to ignore Tsvangirai’s cries for freedom. In this case is it better to have a deal or no deal at all?

  • Zanu PF and MDC Sign Memorandum of Understanding

    Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai Shaking Hands at Signing of AgreementOn Monday the 21st of July, Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara signed an agreement to pave the way towards power sharing talks between their respective political parties. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by all three leaders in the presence of SADC facilitator Thabo Mbeki.

    The memorandum is a written agreement that Zanu PF and the two MDC factions will commit themselves into dialogue with the view of creating a sustainable solution to the Zimbabwe situation. The priorities of the dialogue will cover the economic, political, security and the communication situation in Zimbabwe. It is stated that the dialogue will be completed within in a period of two weeks and shall be facilitated in accordance with the SADC and AU resolutions.

    Click here to read the Memorandum of Understanding between Zanu PF and MDC.

    This is a big step forward towards a better Zimbabwe. Owing to recent comments and moves made by Mugabe and officials within his party, most if not all people would have ever imagined him entering into talks about a power sharing agreement. Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara have very different views on what they envisage for Zimbabwe and this fact will not make talks easy. Hopefully these talks will be fruitful and that all parties involved come up with and eventually implement steps that will lead to Zimbabwe getting back on its feet and well on the way to political, social and economic glory. The next few weeks will tell whether or not a resolution will be reached on the crisis in Zimbabwe.

  • Zimbabwe Resistance Movement

    Below is a very interesting article about a military movement that has apparently been set up to depose Mugabe. If this is infact true it just goes to show that Zimbabweans have had enough and are ready to do whatever it takes to remove Mugabe from office.

    05 June 2008

    FELLOW Zimbabweans, it is with deep regret and trepidation that we announce the formation of the Zimbabwe Resistance Movement, a military organisation comprising of serving and former members of the Zimbabwe armed forces and security services.

    We thought it would not come to this, but unfortunately the situation on the ground in Zimbabwe has forced us to take this unprecedented move. We are firm believers of democracy but we are also alive to the fact that the democratic means are not necessarily the only options available to achieve democracy.

    We have discovered that the problem in Zimbabwe is a military one and therefore, require a military solution to bring a resolution to our long suffering. We acknowledge the efforts that have been made by numerous political, civic and student groups to achieve a democratic transition, but also note the arrogance of a few politicians, generals, colonels, police chiefs and top brass of the CIO.

    It is against this background, that we, serving and former military, police and CIO men and women believe that we would be doing our once great nation a disservice if we do not challenge the status quo by all means that are open to us, including but not limited to militarily means.

    For the benefit of our geriatric leadership that is fond of conspiracies, we would like to place it on record that we are a stand alone organisation, with its own leadership and doctrine. We, are however, not averse to alliances with like minded people, groups and organizations that are committed to the removal of the evil and despotic Robert Mugabe regime by any means necessary.

    WHO ARE WE?

    We are a group of serving and ex-servicemen and women who were and/ or are intimately involved in the operations of the Army, Air force, Police, CIO and Prisons.

    We are aware of what is happening at all military, police and CIO establishments such as 1 Commando, Inkomo, Magunje, Ngezi Barracks, KGV1, Chikurubi, Manyame Airbase, Suri Suri, and Thornhill.

    We would not hesitate to use the confidential and classified information and knowledge that we have about sensitive security and military state that we have to strike fear and pandemonium into the ranks of this dictatorship, which is causing untold suffering and hardships on its people that it claims it fought to liberate from colonialism.

    We are in everyday contact with Officers and other ranks in the armed forces and security services that places us at an unassailable position of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each battalion, squadron, brigade etc.

    Furthermore we have minute and intimate personal details of the politicians, generals, CIO directors and police commissioners who are wreaking havoc on our people. These details include, and are not limited to their residential addresses, the security details, the communal areas that they hail from, their farms, the schools that their children attend, their itineraries and mistresses. We reserve the right to strike this dictatorship where it hurts most and as they have chosen to be indiscriminate in their attacks on the Zimbabwean people, we are also going to be indiscriminate. History abounds with cases where the people have chosen to be as indiscriminate in their revenge as those who instigate the killings in the first place.

    Let those who are instigating the current wave of killings of innocent children, men and women not say we were not warned when the people’s juggernaut exacts revenge on the perpetrators.

    We reserve the right to use any means available and necessary to get rid of him and other impediments to the realisation of a full democracy in our beloved country.

    We aim to cripple and suffocate the dictatorship’s financial ability to continue to finance the killings and we will be targeting the financiers of this killing spree. To this end, we are hereby serving notice to Gideon Gono, who has unashamedly abdicated from his professional role, opting instead to align himself with the cause of the people’s suffering.

    We will exert our energies on exterminating and disrupting the operations of businesses that finance the regime such as Barclays Bank and those that are fronts for the people who are the cause of our suffering.

    It is widely acknowledged that the dictator and his surrogates use companies registered in the relatives’ names as conduits of siphoning money and resources from the state. It therefore does not surprise anyone that today they live opulent lifestyles and have amassed huge fortunes despite having no known history of primitive accumulation.

    AIM

    We are guided by our desire to free Zimbabwe from the burden of the Mugabe dictatorship.

    Zimbabweans should know that the MDC won an absolute majority in the June 2000 parliamentary elections; that Morgan Tsvangirai won by over 500 000 votes in the March 2002 presidential elections; and that he won convincingly in the March 2008 elections. They should know that Mugabe is still there because of intransigent generals who are afraid of Tsvangirai’s pronouncements that he will establish a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, if and when he assumes the reins of power.

    Zimbabweans should also know that even if Tsvangirai were to win again on June 27, there is little likelihood that these generals acting in cohort with Emmerson Mnangagwa are going to allow the people’s will to prevail, just like they have denied us since 2000. Mnangagwa knows that Mugabe is terminally ill and that he will handover power to him by the end of this year. We will take our fight with Mnangagwa to Zambia where his family live so that he will realize how traumatic it is to indiscriminately butcher defenceless people for simply having exercised their democratic right.

    Some of us, as serving soldiers, police officers and prison officers, we have already been denied our democratic right to choose who we want to lead us as we been directed to vote in front of our superiors. We would like to place it on record that we will do this under protest and urge our country men and women to do to Mugabe what he has denied us.

    We would like to urge our people to be extra careful and vigilant in these dangerous and desperate times as there are lot of blood thirsty vulnerable young people who are armed and have been freshly minted by Gideon Gono, an arch accomplice in the suffering of our people.

    The people who are killing and maiming the defenseless men, women and children are predominantly young recruits and war veterans who are being armed and let loose to commit the greasily murders.

    MDC and human rights activists as well as lawyers should avoid walking alone and patronizing the areas they normally frequent. We advise that they lie low until after the elections as the current abductions that are just an eye before the storm.
    Fellow Zimbabweans, there is only one outcome to expect on 28 or 20 June 2008, the delayed but eventual DEPARTURE of Robert Mugabe and if that is not announced by the poodles who run ZEC, then that is our call to ARMS.

    LETS SPREAD THE WORD – MUGABE MUST GO OR BE FORCED OUT

    Zimbabwe Resistance Movement

    Source: Nehanda Radio

  • Are the 2008 Zimbabwe Presidential Elections Rigged?

    Zimbabwe Presidential Elections Rigged!Cartoon by Tom Scott of The Dominion Post featured in the April 2nd edition. (Click on image to enlarge.)

    It has been five days since Zimbabweans took to polling stations and there has been no word as to who won the presidential elections. MDC has been claiming that they have won the elections stating that they have 50.3% and Mugabe 43.8% but there has been no official word from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. However, official results show that Mugabe has lost the majority in parliament which may mean the same thing for the presidential elections but people should not hold their breath because in the past, Mugabe has often done what he wants to do. The ZEC has said that they will release the results on Friday the 4th but that is not a given. Mr. Tsvangirai and a number of key figures from both MDC and Zanu PF have been seen in public talking about the elections but the man of the moment President Robert Mugabe had not been seen in public since the elections but he has resurfaced vowing to fight the good fight to hold on to presidency.

    Here are some interesting things that some people have said through out the election period:

    Teresa Makoni (MDC) – “It’s straight plain rigging.”

    George Charamba (spokesperson for President Robert Mugabe) – “The present delay owes more to thoroughness than to all those sinister motives you are imputing on our impeccable electoral system.”

    Tendai Biti (MDC Secretary General) – “President Morgan Richard Tsvangirai has won this election. He has won this election without a run-off.”

    Bright Matonga (Zanu-PF Spokesman) – “We are not going to see a Kenyan situation. Zimbabweans are very mature, there is no need to fight, as Zimbabweans we don’t have a problem. The problem is coming from the MDC handlers, the United Kingdom and the United States, they are so eager, they want to see the back of President Mugabe, they want Mugabe to go. I think this is an opportunity for Mr. Tsvangirai to give back land to the white man and that’s wish full thinking and that’s a dream that will never come true.”

    Heidi Holland (Author of Dinner with Mugabe) – “Mugabe is a strategist of note. He has outwitted all his opponents to date. That doesn’t mean his day won’t come.”

    Boniface Chidyausiku (Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to the UN) – don’t write him off…..if one member fails to get 50% + 1 there is need for a run-off so I think if that comes up he will take the challenge.

  • Zimbabweans in New Zealand Poll Results

    Zimbabweans in New Zealand Ballot PaperBelow are the results of the mock elections organized by the Save Zimbabwe Campaign New Zealand where Tsvangirai won with an overwhelming majority of the votes. Given that there are about 7,000 Zimbabweans in New Zealand, turn out was poor with just under 200 votes made.

    Tsvangirai

    %

    Makoni

    %

    Taugana

    %

    Mugabe

    %

    TOTAL

    CITY

    Auckland

    68

    71.58%

    27

    28.42%

    0

    0.00%

    0

    0.00%

    95

    Christchurch

    20

    71.43%

    7

    25.00%

    1

    3.57%

    0

    0.00%

    28

    Wellington

    25

    83.33%

    5

    16.67%

    0

    0.00%

    0

    0.00%

    30

    TOTAL

    113

    73.86%

    39

    25.49%

    1

    0.65%

    0

    0.00%

    153

    In Zimbabwe, MDC is claiming victory in a number of constituencies based on early unofficial results with their Secretary General Tendai Biti stating that they have taken 66% of the votes in Harare and 88% in Mashonaland West with more results to be released that they hope are in their favour. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it would start announcing official results late Sunday but the final results are not expected for a few days. It is still a bit too early for MDC to be celebrating a victory because anything can happen.

  • Zimbabwe Has Voted

    DEMOCRACY UNDER MUGABE’S RULEYesterday Zimbabweans took to polling stations to take part in presidential elections with the main candidates being President Robert Mugabe, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai and independent runner Simba Makoni. Just how free and fair the elections were is something that had been put into question well before voting began. There are a number of issues that have been brought up to question the elections such as, the use of cardboard ballot boxes vs. translucent ones, the inclusion of deceased people on electoral rolls. allegations of vote rigging by Zanu PF with the help of an Israeli firm, people resettled by Mugabe being forced to vote for him or risk losing the land they were gifted, the fact that there are considerably more ballot papers than there are voters and the list goes on.

    The online version of the government owned daily paper The Zimbabwe Herald paints a slightly different pro Zanu picture of the situation in Zimbabwe. The government took steps to make sure that they did not get the wrong (or should I say right) kinds of journalists covering the elections. Most western journalists who wished to cover the elections as well as local freelance journalists such as Hopewell Chin’ono were denied accreditation by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission from covering the elections. I for one was looking forward to Hopewell’s coverage after watching his documentary on HIV/AIDS, Pain In My Heart.

    This weekend all eyes will be on Zimbabwe and it will be very interesting to see how things turn out when the preliminary results are released on Monday. Whatever the case may be, my hopes are that Mugabe’s reign comes to an end. He has played a big part in the deterioration of the country’s economic, social and political standing and hasn’t taken notable steps to rectify the situation. As for the other candidates, I am not so sure about Tsvangirai as a president due to all of the disagreement and confusion shown within MDC. As for Simba Makoni, even though he was once a member of Mugabe’s regime he may just be the person to get Zimbabwe back on its feet and on to its long road to recovery.

    On a further note to election related events, individuals here in New Zealand some of whom have close ties to MDC organised mock elections in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch which also to place on the 29th (click here for ONE News coverage). Zimbabwean citizens were invited to vote and do their bit to try and get rid of Mugabe. What this will aid in I do not know because it will not have an impact on events taking place where it really counts, Zimbabwe.

  • Is MDC Fighting A Losing Battle?

    Movement for Democratic Change (MDC Zimbabwe) Leaders – Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara

    The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was founded in 1999 in opposition to Mugabe’s ZANU PF. They have not had much luck in bringing an end to Mugabe’s rule. In 2005 MDC spilt into two factions following policy differences among senior leaders. The mainstream faction is led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the other by Arthur Mutambara. Both bring different skill sets to the table but have an overall goal of ending authoritarian rule. Tsvangirai is a former trade unionist whose positions have included being the Secretary-General of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. Mutambara was the leader of student movements in the late 1980s and has lead a more academic career.
    Since their split in 2005 talks have been held to try and reunite the two factions but were unsuccessful. Last year talks broke down and resulted in two figures who had defected with Mutambara, Shaky Matake and Silas Mangono returning to the main camp. There has also been disharmony within the women’s assembly which further weakens the party.
    Events occurring within the party show a lot of disagreement and confusion amongst themselves. MDC is also notorious for boycotting or threatening to boycott elections which only goes to making the party irrelevant. One of the main purposes of a political party is to win elections. All of this may result in their supporters losing confidence in the party. If they themselves cannot form a united front there is no way they will succeed in their campaign against Mugabe. As it stands, Mugabe and ZANU PF are a force to be reckoned with and if they don’t get their act together they will be fighting a losing battle. Presidential, parliamentary and council elections are due to be held in March which does not give MDC a lot of time to sort out their differences.