|
Misanet.com / Daily News, 8 April - Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Zimbabwean opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), yesterday said his party would demand a rerun of the presidential election during the ongoing talks with the government party, Zanu-PF. Tsvangirai rejected offers of a "government of national unity". Addressing about 5,000 people at the Chibuku Stadium in Chitungwiza - Zimbabwe's third city and an MDC stronghold - Tsvangirai said he had told the MDC delegation to the talks not to compromise on the rerun. He said a government of national unity was unacceptable because it would only legitimise Mugabe's rule. In his first public reaction to the talks between his party and Zanu-PF, Tsvangirai said Mugabe would be forced to conduct a rerun if he remained isolated and was constantly reminded of the illegitimacy of his victory. The mandate of the MDC's team to the talks was to negotiate an election rerun under international supervision within the next six to 12 months. This was Tsvangirai's first rally since last month¹s hotly-disputed presidential poll. He accused President Mugabe of putting the country under what he described as "a military dictatorship" and promised his party would confront Mugabe over the flawed election. Tsvangirai said: "Whether Robert Mugabe likes it or not there is going to be an election rerun. No matter what he does, Mugabe's victory is illegitimate. We have overwhelming evidence that he did not poll more than 850,000 votes." The Registrar-General, Tobaiwa Mudede, declared Mugabe the winner with 1,685,212 votes against 1,258,401 for Tsvangirai. Mugabe has ruled out an election rerun and threatened to clamp down on any civil unrest. Tsvangirai warned that Zanu PF-would try to swallow up the opposition as it did with the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo's PF Zapu, through the Unity Accord. He said: "If they don't want to talk about an election rerun, then there is no need to even start negotiations." Tsvangirai said although people were dejected at being cheated during the poll it was now time to look forward. He said soldiers ran the election and were now being deployed in the streets to assault people in post-election violence. - If they have a reign of terror and brutality, what kind of democracy is that? he asked. If the state-run broadcaster ZBC "only gives one view from dawn to dusk, what kind of democracy is that?" he added. Earlier on, Tsvangirai had intervened to stop his supporters from assaulting ZBC journalists for negative reports on their party, saying that the fact that the media corporation covered the MDC in the first place showed that they acknowledged the party's strength. ZBC reporter Justin Manyau and cameraman Jabulani Ndebele were heckled by MDC supporters before party officials rushed to their rescue and offered them refuge in a tent they were in. The supporters tried to overturn the crew's vehicle, a Mazda Rustler. Manyau and Ndebele were later allowed to cover the rally. Tsvangirai warned that a military dictatorship was potentially explosive and could result in civil war. He said: "In a military situation of this nature, violence is the norm. The problem with us is that we have been fighting to be nice people, but as the majority we should not be intimidated. We must exercise our responsibility as the majority." - The weapon with which we can defeat Mugabe is the vote, he said, "although other ideas might also come in. As a party we must not do what would injure us but rather what changes the country for the better." He said there was need to disband the Zanu-PF youth brigades, restore law and order and set up an independent electoral commission before an election rerun could be conducted. There was also need for the non-partisan distribution of food and land, he said.
|
