Back to Index

This article participates on the following special index pages:

Tsvangirai offers olive branch
Susan Njanji, Agence France-Presse (AFP)
April 06, 2008

http://iafrica.com/news/specialreport/zimbabwe/622665.htm

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai assured the army and even President Robert Mugabe they had nothing to fear from a change of regime on Saturday as he claimed victory in a presidential election.

But Tsvangirai accompanied the olive branch with a sharp warning for hardliners in Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party not to suppress "the will of the people" as he accused them of preparing to wage a bloody fightback.

At a meeting of its politburo, Zanu-PF not only backed Mugabe to stand in a second round of a presidential election but also announced plans to contest its loss of parliamentary control to Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.

"The MDC won the election and will not accept the suppression of the will of the people," Tsvangirai said in a press conference in which he shrugged aside his previous reluctance to declare himself the rightful next president.

"The result is known, that the MDC won the presidential and parliamentary election. President Mugabe and Zanu-PF should accept the results."

Tsvangirai calls for dialogue

But rather than castigate Mugabe, Tsvangirai said he wanted to hold talks with the country's leader-since-independence and gave him guarantees about his safety, promising that his own administration would eschew partisanship.

"I am calling on President Mugabe to begin a dialogue with me, to begin the process of a peaceful, orderly and democratic transition," Tsvangirai said.

"In making this call, I believe it is in the interests of the people and the future of this country not to create conditions of anxiety and instability."

Tsvangirai has twice been accused of treason and was badly beaten up by Mugabe's security forces last year but he pledged he was not after vengeance.

"I want to say to President Robert Mugabe: 'Please rest your mind, the new Zimbabwe guarantees your safety'."

Zanu-PF "preparing a war"

Mugabe's continued public silence since last Saturday's vote, in which even Zanu-PF acknowledges he failed to win an outright majority against Tsvangirai, has led to speculation that he may in fact be preparing an exit strategy.

However the decision to endorse him for a run-off against Tsvangirai if neither man has won more than 50 percent, combined with the decision to challenge the legislative results, has indicated hardliners may hold the upper hand.

Tsvangirai said there was clear evidence that Zanu-PF was gearing up for a fight to the finish.

"Zanu-PF is preparing a war against the people of Zimbabwe such as we witnessed in 2000," when Mugabe failed to win backing in a referendum for a broadening of his powers.

Shortly after that result, Mugabe loyalists embarked on a series of invasions of white-owned farms after accusing the farmers of persuading their workers to vote against the president's proposals.

"Thousands of army recruits are being recruited in militias and the reserve bank's printing presses are in overdrive, printing for bribery activities," Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai courting armed forces

Diplomatic sources say Tsvangirai's camp has already been in touch with senior figures in the armed forces to persuade them not to join in any last-ditch stand to save the 84-year-old president from being ousted.

And Tsvangirai, aware that a smooth transition is largely dependent on the attitude of the armed forces, went out of his way to tell them that he would not bear grudges over the past.

"I want to assure those serving in state institutions, in particular those in the army, the police, that their jobs are safe, that there will be no retribution or vindictiveness."

Martin Rupiya, a former general in the Zimbabwean army who is now a South Africa-based analyst, said it would be a mistake to think the hawks predominated in the military.

Zanu-PF's reverse "has disarmed those on the hawkish side, most appear to go along (with a hard line) but are actually pragmatists and moderates although they keep being wound up by the irresponsible political rhetoric," he told AFP.

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP