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Vilification and political persecution
Morgan Tsvangirai, President of Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
October 19, 2004

Now that the treason trial has ended, may I take this opportunity to thank you all for the unwavering support and conviction you showed towards my family, myself and the MDC for a long two and half years of constant vilification and political persecution.

The prosecution and the charges were politically motivated. This was the second time I have been through indicted for treason. As you are aware, I still have another one pending.

I wish to thank our legal team for the sterling work they put in this case - Advocate George Bizos, the team leader, Senior Counsel Chris Andersen, Advocate Eric Matinenga, and Mr. Innocent Chagonda. I am happy that the party, the MDC, remained focused and determined to see this through. Our friends and supporters at home and abroad merit special mention for all the messages of support and solidarity. My family, in particular my wife, Susan and the children deserve commendation for their patience and resilience during these trying times.

As with all political trials, it was inconceivable that one could look positively to this process and to the result with optimism. Because of our experiences, we have serious reservations about the state of our criminal justice system and the rule of law in Zimbabwe today.

For the record, you will recall that on the eve of the Presidential election in 2002, an unclear video recording was broadcast showing a meeting between me and officials of an Ari-Ben Menashe-led company, Dickens and Madison, in Montreal, Canada. You were told that there was an audio tape with sufficient supporting evidence to corroborate the existence of a criminal plot and explicit details of criminal behaviour on part.

You will further recall that the broadcast was meant to show me as requesting Dickens and Madison to assassinate Robert Mugabe, my main opponent in that Presidential election. You are also aware that the timing of the broadcast was particularly devastating for me, the MDC and the people of Zimbabwe.

I said at the time that the broadcast, which was repeatedly aired until the Election Day, was one of Mugabe's last campaign cards in that election. A few weeks before, the generals from the uniformed forces and CIO declared publicly that they were not prepared to respect an electoral verdict that was against Robert Mugabe. A battery of repressive legislation was imposed and several decrees were put in place, including one that denied Zimbabweans abroad an opportunity to vote in that election.

At the time Registrar General Tobaiwa Mudede had continued to register new voters secretly despite having officially closed the process in January. Meanwhile thousands of people, including farm workers, were displaced and disenfranchised. Violence was on the rise. I only managed to address eight campaign rallies, out of the 90 that we applied for. We were denied access to the voters roll. My party was denied access to the supplementary voters roll.

Several parts of the country were declared no-go areas for the MDC. Our rallies were either cancelled or disrupted while hundreds of MDC activists were either killed, displaced or severely brutalized. None of these desperate measures, including the Ben-Menashe video clip, dampened the spirit for change.

Mugabe then decided to interfere directly with the process by setting up a command centre to receive voter returns. We were denied access to this centre, which as you know was run by the military. The number of polling stations in urban areas was drastically reduced. The voting process was slowed down in these few stations.

Voters were tear-gassed and dispersed at the few polling stations in Harare and Chitungwiza. The result, as you all know is now history. The behaviour of our opponents taught us a range of invaluable lessons, strengthened our resolve to rid the nation of political thuggery and guided us towards the new Zimbabwe we seek to build. We took an oath, for the sake of our future generations, never to allow our nation and society to be dragged towards another precipice simply because of political greed and avarice.

Whatever happened at the time failed to satisfy Mugabe and his regime. They realized that they had lost your hearts and minds. Secretary General Welshman Ncube, Shadow Agriculture Minister Renson Gasela and I were charged with treason soon afterwards. Our travel documents were seized. We were slapped with restrictions on our movement and required to report to the police twice a week. For almost two years, I would be forced to live under conditions of virtual house arrest.

A marathon trial followed, pinning all of us down to the High Court for a long time. From the day the allegation was tendered to us, it was clear that this was a political trial. Prof Ncube and Minister Gasela were later acquitted. The state then amended the charge and I remained as the sole accused person in this treason case.

The trial has now come to an end. Zimbabwe is far worse off than at the time this debacle started to unfold. Any political trial, indeed trials anchored on political intrigue, repressive legislation and dishonesty hardly achieve a meaningful national good.

There is new global thinking emphasizing respect for basic rights, encouraging participation in governance and supporting national healing. Zimbabwe needs to embrace this new culture in order to fit into the spirit of the international community, raise the country's international profile and empower its citizens through freedom.

I am particularly saddened by the continued chaos in agriculture. Up to this minute, the nation remains unsure as to the source and availability of fuel, seed, agricultural chemicals and fertilizers. The regime is broke. The regime has no friends. The regime refuses to take in ideas from the people on the way forward.

Fiddling with time, chasing shadows and imaginary enemies, surely does not put food on the table neither does it create jobs for a nation with 85 percent unemployment. The uncertainty in the farming sector, our economic mainstay and food security base, means reduced food supply and even lesser employment for all of us in the new year.

We must drop all the political experiments of the past five years and get real. Zimbabwe needs a new start. Zimbabwe needs a new beginning. We are ready to play our part depending on the seriousness of those who pushed the nation to a cliff-edge and abandoned the people. We are determined to rebuild; to start afresh. I am confident that together we can recover as nation from bankruptcy and lawlessness. Through elections, and by democratic means, we can easily retire the dictatorship and move on.

Our members and supporters in the MDC are clear about the ultimate objective. Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF never intended to address the land imbalances inherited at independence in 1980. Their plan was to displace and disenfranchise a farm-worker constituency which they assumed to support the MDC. The on-going evictions in the former commercial farms show that there was never a desire to deal with historical distortions in the land ownership pattern in this country. Communal lands are still as congested as they were in 2000. Our government, an MDC government, shall reverse that negative trend.

Seed is being diverted to the more favourable export market by none other than Zanu PF officials, a fact the regime confirms. Even if we get good rains, we are still far from the threat of famine. An MDC government shall attend to agriculture as a national emergency in order to revive the economy, create jobs and place food on the table. An MDC government shall honour the people's human right to adequate food at all times. We pledge to resolve the land reform process through justice and equity.

Let us remain focussed on goals. We are winning at every stage of our struggle, as shown by the Friday verdict. Once again, I wish to thank you all for your support.

Morgan Tsvangirai
President.

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