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Letter
to President Mbeki
Morgan Tsvangirai
May 13, 2008
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Movement for Democratic
Change
PO Box 3549
Harare
Zimbabwe
Tel: 702517, 705602, 731777
From The Office of the
President
Privileged, private and
confidential
13 May 2008
The Honorable Thabo Mbeki
President of the Republic
of South Africa
Pretoria
Dear President Mbeki
On behalf of the National
Executive of the MDC and millions of voters betrayed by Zimbabwe's
chronic election disasters, I am writing to respectfully request,
once again, that you recuse yourself from your role as exclusive
mediator of our nation's crisis.
You will recall that
on 8 April, as we peacefully and patiently waited for the results
to be announced by ZEC - although we knew the result -
a document was brought to my attention by sympathizers in the Zimbabwe
military establishment. This document showed that a decision had
been taken by the Zimbabwe government to deploy military, war veterans
and militia in a violent campaign against supporters of the MDC.
This operation has now resulted in many of our supporters being
beaten, maimed and killed.
I immediately
alerted the SADC leadership including you of these developments.
As you know, it is this information that precipitated the Extraordinary
SADC Summit on 12 April.
Two days before this
meeting I met with Your Excellency in one of the few times we have
met face to face. (You will recall that the first time I held a
private meeting you in five years was in December 2007). On 10 April
I gave you copies of the documents, and briefed you fully about
the destabilizing and violent plans of the Zimbabwean security forces.
You expressed deep concern and suggested you would convene a meeting
between myself and Mr. Mugabe before the SADC Summit. I traveled
to South Africa and waited for a full day for this meeting that
you said you would set up. No one from your office ever contacted
me.
In view of continual
mixed messages about your role, I feel in the next few passages
I must explicitly outline several of the key reasons that the MDC
again kindly requests that you no longer serve as the exclusive
mediator for the Zimbabwe crisis.
Lack
of confidence in your neutrality
Your lack of neutrality became increasingly evident when I arrived
to the Lusaka Summit to see you and Mr. Mugabe on television together
proclaiming there is "no crisis" in Zimbabwe. The fact
you made this inexplicable comment after a meeting I learned about
only on television, naturally alarmed both me and MDC's National
Executive, given what you knew. Following this comment, and others
you made to SADC Heads of State, it became clear to MDC's
National Executive that it must urgently review our relationship
with you and your role in the mediation.
May I respectfully
mention that when you started mediating,
Zimbabwe still had a functioning economy, millions of our citizens
had not fled to other countries to escape political and economic
crisis, and tens of thousands had not yet died from impoverishment
and disease. In fact, since the 29 March election, Zimbabwe has
plunged into horrendous violence while you have been mediating.
With respect, if we continue like this, there will be no country
left.
Not only have you been
unable to denounce the well-documented post-election attacks on
our people, but your government even played a role in Zimbabwean
government procurement of weapons of repression (tear gas and batons,
for example) and agreed to allow passage of arms of war purchased
by the same government through South African territory during the
troubled post-election period.
Attempting
to intervene in the internal affairs of our party
We made it clear to Ms. Mojanku Gumbi and Minister Sydney Mufamadi
that MDC was no longer willing to participate in any initiative
in any form or shape under your mediation. At one point, we were
forced to formally communicate this in writing to Ms. Gumbi. It
is therefore with considerable disappointment that I later learned
that you have continued to make representations in meetings and
to the media that you are the mediator and that you are in discussions
with the MDC and ZANU-PF.
I do not understand how
this can be so when I personally communicated our position. Most
recently, Isaac Maposa of the Zimbabwe Institute came to see me
saying that he had been sent to try and set up a discussion between
you and me with respect to mediation. I told Mr. Maposa to convey
to you that the position taken by MDC's National Executive
with respect to your role in the mediation had not changed.
A few days later it was
suggested that you were again in contact with a member of my National
Executive, Secretary-General Tendai Biti. This interaction is reminiscent
of that which happened prior to the break up of the MDC in October
2005. I respectfully submit to you that such "private"
meetings contributed to the misunderstandings that later led to
a split in our organization. I urge you in the future if there is
any matter that requires my attention, that you please communicate
with me directly, unless it has been otherwise arranged in writing.
Blocking
United Nations Security Council discussions on Zimbabwe
As you know, when MDC attempted to appeal to the United Nations
Security Council to investigate and help stop the carnage, it was
you, the so-called "neutral" mediator, who blocked a possible
road to resolution of the crisis. Given your role as formal mediator,
South Africa should have recused itself from this discussion. Another
principle of mediation is that a mediator cannot publicly defend
or endorse the position of one side or the other, which South Africa
did at the United Nations.
Ignoring
and suppressing the Khampepe Report on the 2002 elections
At the time of writing, I have just been made aware a further development
that would seem to incontrovertibly compromise your perceived neutrality.
If it is true that you both ignored and suppressed the detailed
2002 election report written u judges Sisi Khampepe and Dikgang
Moseneke, then you certainly must stand down with immediate effect.
I will quote the words of Jeremy Gauntlett who led MDC's 2002
Presidential Election challenge, "there can be no good reason
to keep secret the Khampepe-Moseneke report. By doing so Mbeki implicitly
confirms what it must contain and that he has no moral claim to
mediate a state of affairs at which he has, in secret, connived."
With regard to the above
report, I have not yet had time to investigate the matter but given
the gravity of the allegations, I believe it is your responsibility
to immediately and publicly explain to the Zimbabwean people any
perceived complicity in perpetuating Mr. Mugabe's rule in
2002. We will follow up with you on this matter in due course.
Breaching
the principles of mediation
It is a universally accepted principle that in a mediation between
two parties, if one party does not have confidence in the mediator
- irrespective of qualification, level of knowledge or perceived
sense of success - that mediator must stand down. This is
what you did in a similar situation in the Cote d'Ivoire mediation.
I am aware that MDC's
decision regarding your role in the mediation was brought directly
to your attention. Once I had formally advised the Chairman of SADC
of our decision, as it is this bode that appointed you as mediator,
we then held a press conference at which I publicly announced the
same message - that the crisis now required a new mediator.
Please note, irrespective
of the fact that we kindly request you to stand down immediately
as mediator, MDC, of course, still considers South Africa a vitally
important neighbour and member of SADC. We remain fully committed
to SADC's critical role and have no problem with South Africa's
participation in mediation efforts. It is your own involvement as
exclusive mediator to which we take exception.
In closing, as our people
continue to die in post-election violence, as the Zimbabwe Election
Commission still refuses to announce a runoff election date, and
as our economy continues to drive the Zimbabwean people into poverty
and despair, I am writing to once again respectfully inform you
that the MDC sees you role as mediator as neither appropriate nor
effective. As a leader, whilst you may not have respect for me as
a person, I can only ask you to respect the position that I hold,
which position has been endorsed by the majority of Zimbabweans
who voted for me.
Very truly yours
Morgan Tsvangirai
PRESIDENT
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