16 March 2004
President Morgan Tsvangirai’S Tuesday Message To The People Of Zimbabwe
On Sunday, 14 March 2004, the MDC finally managed to launch its by-election campaign in Zengeza constituency in Chitungwiza.
We had to go back to Chitungwiza after we failed to have a launch rally the previous week because of violence.
At that time, hundreds of Zanu PF youths invaded the venue and attacked MDC activists who were preparing for the event. They damaged our equipment and stoned two of our vehicles.
The Zanu PF militia moved around the constituency attacking anyone assumed to be heading for the rally. Police witnessed the chaos and took no action.
In the past week, Misheck Shoko, the executive mayor of Chitungwiza was constantly harassed by gangs of Zanu PF militia.
Shoko’s office was attacked by a rowdy group chanting Zanu PF slogans and howling all sorts of profanities.
Several homes, including that of the MDC candidate James Makore were destroyed. Dozens of our supporters were abducted, assaulted and injured.
I arrived at Chibuku Stadium just before noon. The venue was surrounded by hundreds of armed police officers.
Inside, there were officials from the Electoral Supervisory Commission, clutching small notebooks and milling around the football ground. When they were challenged to move out and witness the chaos outside, they refused to do so.
About 3 000 MDC supporters and officials were already seated for the meeting.
Ordinary residents of Zengeza were barred from reaching the stadium by Zanu PF militias camped a few metres away.
The police ignored pleas from our officials to act and remove the gangs blocking the people from coming to the rally.
The few MDC supporters who managed to pass through the make-shift, illegal checkpoints were further intimidated by the presence of armed police officers around the stadium. They retreated and retired to their homes, in exasperation.
Just before the rally started we were informed by the police to speed up our proceedings because we were expected to vacate the place by 3 pm. Zanu PF does not experience this kind of indignity when it organises and holds its meetings.
The events in Chitungwiza at the weekend highlight one of the central concerns of the MDC as a political player in Zimbabwe today. The conditions on the ground are far from being conducive for a free and fair election. It is folly to assume that a genuine voice of the people, a legitimate will of the electorate can be registered under such uneven electoral conditions.
Since the departure of Tafadzwa Musekiwa from Zimbabwe two years ago, the people of Zengeza enjoyed relative peace in their neighbourhood. No unwanted visitors, the kind that is now stalking the homes of the people of Zengeza, ever came to the area with a view to distort the electoral outcome. Hundreds of soldiers, in plain clothes, were deployed from as far as Mudzi and Mutoko to assist Zanu PF to put a political footprint in Zengeza. Without shame, Zanu PF youths and militias were bussed in from all over Zimbabwe to help the soldiers and cause mayhem in the area.
New voters, all foreign to Zengeza, were registered in the neighbouring Seke communal lands, in Epworth and in some parts of Glen Norah in Harare to vote in this election. Like in Kadoma Central and in Gutu North, a flawed, fraudulent distorted voters roll is now in place, ready for use at the month end.
The pattern is now a familiar one: we witnessed it in Marondera West, in Bikita West, in Makoni, in Insiza, in Highfield, in Kuwadzana, in Chikomba, in Kadoma Central and in Gutu North.
Whenever there is a by-election, Zanu PF moves in to destabilise the community; to beat up residents; and to harass voters – the party literally declares war against the people in any constituency.
So-called militia bases are set up, food handouts are doled out, assumed MDC activists are hounded, tortured and brutalised. Fear is instilled in the minds of voters and on anyone engaged in any lawful business in the area.
There are accusations that the MDC always cries foul whenever Zanu PF claims to have won in these by-elections.
The story is that we only recognise those elections in which we emerge victorious.
Legitimacy in any electoral process is only possible through a free and fair election in which eligible voters are allowed to express their will.
Without the necessary democratic space, without personal security, without political freedoms and liberties, without a non-partisan referee in the form of an Independent Electoral Commission and without the respect for the rule of law, Zimbabwean elections will always be contested.
The current position is incompatible with the needs of any internationally acceptable 21st century political culture.
What we are saying is that whether the MDC wins in such a disputed and irregularly conducted plebiscite or not, the fact remains that the conditions on the ground work against a free and fair poll.
The people desperately need their freedom. They need to meet, without the unnecessary restrictions imposed by the Public Order and Security Act.
They need to have their story told through newspapers and publications of various persuasions and owned by both the state and private individuals and companies.
They need to talk freely to their friends and neighbours. They want to hear campaigners sell their party programmes and to analyse those programmes without fear or hindrance. That is important as it enables voters to make an informed choice.
The people are tired of “checking over” their shoulders for dangerous eavesdroppers and intruders whose mission is always to hurt and harm.
Militias are a product of failed regimes. Regimes that train and arm groups of people to make a living out of brutalising the population will have lost the confidence and support of the people. They thrive on terror and force.
Why would a popular government beat up its own supporters? Why would Zanu PF, if it is popular in Zengeza for example, bus in thugs and soldiers to attack residents of the constituency?
The perennial problem of the voters roll must be attended to. Everyone must have unimpeded access to the voters roll. Election observation and monitoring must be done by neutral, honest and non-partisan individuals and groups. The Electoral Act must conform to those aspects of the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s Electoral Norms and Standards, a democracy protocol Zimbabwe ratified in 2001.
Ordinary people, opposition supporters, political party candidates, provincial and national leaders must have access to the public media, especially radio and television, to reach all the voters.
We can not allow a situation where opposition parties and their supporters are subjected to constant ridicule and persistent derision by the public broadcaster, the ZBC, especially during an election time.
The people are crying out for transparency in the electoral process. They need assurances on the secrecy of the ballot.
The United Nations is ready to assist us in this regard. Why is the Mugabe regime against the idea of getting help from the UN? Why did it stop the UN from sending a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe early this month?
We are committed to assuming power through democratic means, through a free and fair election.
We are determined to win all forthcoming elections. We are working towards that goal. But what I observed in Zengeza during the past week and at the weekend can not inspire confidence in any voter, political party and politician. Zanu PF and Mugabe, instead of putting in place visible confidence-building measures for a free and fair election, are still stuck in their old and discredited ways which have created an unhealthy political climate of illegitimacy.
Mugabe and his party are left with only one card: violence. Without violence, they can’t get anywhere. To them, withdrawing violence as a formula is like giving up power. A combination of a shrinking democratic space and grinding poverty is creating fresh challenges for a nation facing a serious humanitarian crisis. Violence will soon outlive its usefulness.
We are consulting our supporters and allies throughout the country on the way forward. The key question is whether to take part in the Parliamentary election in 2005 or not. Questions have been raised as to the wisdom of giving up what we already have, especially in Parliament. Questions have also been raised as to whether the MDC has benefited the nation through its presence in Parliament when the same institution has, over the past five years, passed POSA, AIPPA and all other repressive laws through the Executive muscle of this regime.
Are we making a difference in Parliament when our MPs are routinely tortured, brutalised and arrested on trumped up charges? Despite the numerous prosecutions, none have been convicted of any wrong doing.
If Parliamentarians are merely messengers of the people, then we have a serious problem in the manner in which Mugabe and Zanu PF treats the Zimbabwean Parliament. He resorts to rule by decree whenever it suits him, ignoring Parliament.
Today, a new set of legislative measures decreed by Mugabe can keep suspects in jail for up to 30 days without an option of bail. The same mechanisms can be applied on almost anything and on anyone he may wish to punish.
Outside Parliament, Mugabe is increases the size of Cabinet despite a clear protest from the people registered at the time of the hearings of the Constitutional Commission way back in 1999. He even displays the arrogance of appointing governors for Harare and Bulawayo when the people, during the same constitutional hearings, called for the abolition of the post of governor.
Are we making a difference in Parliament when the legitimate concerns, protests and reservations of our MPs on national issues are ignored and bulldozed through Parliament by an artificial, hand-picked majority?
Are we making progress as a nation with an MDC representation in Parliament when the contested seats we challenged in 2000 remain occupied by Zanu PF MPs who lost the legal suits in High Court and whose appeals are merely gathering dust at the Supreme Court? Were the verdicts respected by the regime? Will the remaining cases ever be heard during the life of this Parliament?
A political cost-benefit analysis of the status quo shows that the Parliament has been grossly subverted and abused by a rogue Executive to a point where our presence in the House is raising national anxiety and discomfort.
With respect to local government, the situation in Harare remains a source of national concern. The city has been denied its leadership through the unresolved suspension of Eng Elias Mudzuri, the Executive Mayor. The Zimbabwe crisis is a national crisis. Crucial decisions made at a local level are being overridden by a Cabinet minister whose mission is to derail the MDC agenda in local government.
The regime is determined to let our towns and cities rot and die simply because Mugabe and Zanu PF were rejected by the people.
Other towns and cities are receiving no support from central government and Zanu PF remains unyielding in its quest to punish half the population for voting for the MDC. The proof is there for all to see.
The state has abandoned its traditional role of investing, subsidising and supporting our dying urban areas in order to penalise the majority for rejecting Zanu PF. A case in point is demonstrated by the behaviour of the Zanu PF bureaucracy in the Harare City Council. Recently it raised the water tariffs to Chitungwiza by almost 10 times to turn the people away from the MDC in the month-end election. As a result, Chitungwiza residents have to pay Z$3 000 per cubic litre of water when their Harare counterparts are charged Z$400 for the same amount of water, with effect from last month.
Mugabe’s retributive agenda is evident in health delivery, his approach to HIV/Aids, housing, job creation and the restoration of peace and food security.
I am happy to report that a consensus is fast emerging within the democratic movement that Zimbabwe must break out of the current polarised environment. We have lived in such an environment for the past five years.
During that time, the regime has behaved like a foreign occupying force, constantly at war with the people. People must move on. If Mugabe wants an election under the current conditions, he may as well proceed without the people. Let him fool himself that all is well.
We are continuing with our consultation at home and in the region. We will announce our position soon in order to free our people from the clutches of perpetual tyranny.
At the same time, our search for alternatives to press the regime to negotiate with us has reached an advanced stage. The eye of the storm is on the horizon.
Morgan Tsvangirai
President.
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