ZIMBABWE: OPPOSITION PARTY MDC V ,LAUNCHES LEGAL CHALLENGE TO ROBERT MUGABE'S 2002 ELECTION VICTORY

Record ID: 645974

  • Title: ZIMBABWE: OPPOSITION PARTY MDC V ,LAUNCHES LEGAL CHALLENGE TO ROBERT MUGABE'S 2002 ELECTION VICTORY
  • Date: 24th June 2003
  • Summary: (W7) HARARE, ZIMBABWE (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI AND PRESIDENT ROBERT MUGABE PREPARING TO ADDRESS THE MEDIA IN HARARE
  • Embargoed: 9th July 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HARARE, ZIMBABWE
  • Country: Zimbabwe
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAENHFF0T3EUK27MU5S9HUFQQ7E
  • Story Text: Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's main opposition leader, has said his party, the MDC, which has launched a court challenge to President Robert Mugabe's 2002 victory in presidential polls which several Western governments say were rigged, was still willing to talk to Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party.
    Tsvangirai, leader of the 'Movement for Democratic Change' (MDC) speaking on Tuesday (June 24) said that, "The final push, some people misinterpreted it as an attempt to overthrow the government. I think that was a figment of peoples imagination. We were very clear about what we wanted.
    We wanted to raise the tempo on the government to come to the negotiating table and that to us, that is one of the most effective demonstrations by Zimbabweans and not just by staying at home, but by actually going on the streets."
    President Mugabe insists that he won the election fairly in 2002 and says the MDC is a puppet of former colonial power Britain which will only rule in Zimbabwe 'over our dead bodies'.
    But Tsvangirai, who faces two trials on separate counts of treason, still hopes that dialogue between the MDC and the government can have a positive result.
    "Our approach should be that the two parties must come to the negotiating table and put their cards on the table, that is how you proceed," he said. "But you see this business of insisting that the MDC must do this, must do that, must do that, we have already done more than a fair share of bending over backwards, without necessarily being pushed to capitulation. What we are talking about is not a win, win situation, it's a compromise and we are prepared for that compromise," said Tsvangirai.
    "At the end of the day, the success of any negotiations are not dependent on any of the brokers, its dependent on the goodwill of the two parties to take negotiations seriously.
    You cannot.., you can take a donkey to the river but you can't make it drink. So in this case, whilst we appreciate that they are able come in and try and to bring the two parties together, and consistently although with some disappointment, they have consistently come over and over again to try and find a resolution. I think that must be encouraged and welcomed," he said But the veteran trade union leader, who was jailed for two weeks this month after MDC supporters staged huge anti-Mugabe protests, said the country's political turmoil would likely continue until Mugabe goes, because he was the stumbling block.
    "We don't mean any harm to Mugabe, we believe in reality that Mugabe is a national liability, it's a fact and he is the stumbling block. If he cannot even appreciate the fact that we have half of the seats in parliament, does not even appreciate the fact that the MDC won the presidential elections, and decide to ignore that and goes on a path of crushing the MDC rather than tolerate the existence of an opposition. Then you start finding, 'Why is this man not tolerant enough to accept that multi-party is actually helpful?," he said.
    Tsvangirai said that he had never put his treason trial as a condition for anything, adding that he wanted to face the full wrath of the law. he said that if he was wrong then he should be punished by the law. He said that he did not want to negotiate with personal considerations. "We are just saying that, look, the crisis needs the two parties to sit down and talk. Lets sit down. After all, in April last year an agenda had been agreed," he said.
    Tsvangirai said Mugabe had thwarted a regional initiative mounted by South Africa, Nigeria and Malawi to resolve Zimbabwe's crisis, which has driven the country's economy close to collapse.
    Once an African economic star, Zimbabwe now battles chronic food and fuel shortages and inflation riding at 300 percent, one of the highest rates in the world.
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