23 March 2004
President Morgan Tsvangirai's Tuesday Message to the People of Zimbabwe
Fellow Zimbabweans,
For nearly a decade, Zimbabweans have argued that the crisis of governance, underpinned by a flawed national Constitution, is the root cause of a serious political dispute between the Robert Mugabe regime and the people.
By 1999 it had become obvious even to Zanu PF that the Constitution was a liability to political advancement and had to be tackled. The regime lost a patriotic opportunity to respond to this national grievance.
Instead, it attempted to direct and control the findings of a commission it had mandated to conduct hearings and record people’s views. This behaviour resulted in a rejected draft Constitution.
The people’s message was clear. Governments must refrain from interfering with the people’s sovereign rights, people’s views and people’s aspirations in a dishonest ploy to hang on to power.
When Mugabe was humiliated for the role his regime played in tempering with the findings of the Constitutional Commission, he decided on an unforgiving and vengeful path.
Since February 2000, hundreds of Zimbabweans have died and thousands were victimized in a vicious campaign of retribution arising from the results of the referendum, plunging the country into an even deeper crisis.
The regime’s blatant refusal to acknowledge that the need for people-driven Constitution has become a major national predicament.
The Mugabe regime has not only decided to ignore the recorded views of the people during the abortive Constitutional exercise. They have gone further to seal the available democratic space and acted in a manner that drives the people further from the regime’s desperate political formula of governance.
For instance, the people called for the setting up institutions to keep the government in check. The people called for the abolition of the offices of governors; they said they were against a bloated Cabinet; and they expressed their displeasure with the excessive use of Presidential powers. The regime is doing the opposite today.
The Constitutional movement is determined to press on. The MDC is an active part of that movement. Our problems would immediately fall away if a new Constitution is in place.
A people-driven Constitution provides the nation with the necessary guidance and reference point for tackling political, social, economic, legal and developmental bottlenecks and challenges likely to confront the people from time to time.
We believe a lasting resolution to the Constitutional question will set Zimbabwe on an irreversible path to freedom. The question is how, under the current conditions, this critical piece of unfinished business can be tackled. The country is virtually under siege.
Political activity and democratic space are at premium. Our right to assemble, move around and communicate has been severely curtailed. Violence is celebrated. Torture has been institutionalized. We are in political cul-de-sac deliberately created to polarize our society and promote a culture of despondency.
A faster way of moving out of the impasse was to use the Constitution as a vehicle for resolving the political crisis. We are prepared to amend the existing Constitution in order to fashion out conditions for a genuinely free and fair election.
A crucial change would see the setting up of an Independent Electoral Commission. A new election management institution could attend to all election needs in an impartial and non-partisan manner resulting in an election capable of ushering in a legitimate government whose priority would be to open up the country for an all inclusive consultation process leading to a national Constitution.
Another critical amendment could be made to the Electoral Act, seeking to nullify all legislation that portrays Zimbabwe as a nation at war with itself and allow for free democratic activity across the country. That includes:
the banning of the military and youth militia from interfering with elections;
the exclusion of a partisan Registrar General from the process;
the cleaning up of our voters rolls;
transparency in the preparation for elections and in the voting process;
the introduction and maintenance of the principle and practice of secrecy in the voting process and the ballot itself;
the liberation of the broadcasting media and the opening up of the public media to carry equal amounts of coverage of all messages from political players for the purposes of the election; AND
the holding of a Presidential and parliamentary election simultaneously and on a single day – with results checked and counted at the polling stations.
The crisis is now far too severe and deep-seated to allow for instant recovery. But a legitimate government, directed by people-endorsed Constitution is the only way to return the country to normality within a bearable time-frame, together with a progressive setting up of self-sustained, equitable economic growth and development. There can never be any short cuts to this process.
The United Nations, our neighbours and the entire international community are willing to assist us to reform our political system and to stop the slide into more trouble. Election observation and monitoring must be done by neutral, honest and non-partisan individuals and groups.
Without participatory democracy, based on Constitutionalism and the rule of law, the cosmetic experiments undertaken by the Mugabe regime are set to push us further into chaos.
On Friday, the regime announced its intentions to amend the Electoral Act. The proposals in the regime’s mind further drive people away from participating in any future elections.
New measures are being put in place to further suffocate and muzzle the people’s voice. It is essential that political legitimacy returns to Zimbabwe, following the fraud of 2000 and 2002.
Parliament must put the entire Electoral Act under heavy scrutiny in order to build the necessary confidences in the electoral system. A changed Electoral Act must conform to those aspects of the SADC Parliamentary Forum’s Electoral Standards and Norms which Zimbabwe ratified in 2001.
As I said last week, 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.
I was in Gweru at the weekend with party representatives from the Midlands South province. The people are apprehensive about going into an election under the existing conditions.
While debate is raging on whether to take part in the March 2005 plebiscite, we have already launched a comprehensive campaign in readiness for the election. The party is in a state of election preparedness.
The consultation process will culminate in a national convention at which the leadership will receive guidance on the future. A binding decision from millions of Zimbabweans will send a clear message to the regime about the future.
Having been let down on two occasions, I am happy to report that Zimbabweans view electoral fraud seriously. We are not asking for a favour from Zanu PF. We do not seek office through fraudulent means. We want Zimbabwean politicians and authorities to respect the people, to demonstrate their sincerity and to strive for fair play whenever they seek public office.
If selfish motives continue to drive Mugabe and the regime to betray a national project, surely the people have a right to reclaim their power.
Delegates to our consultative meetings on Saturday argued that if Mugabe wants an election under the present conditions, he may as well proceed without the people.
If we decide to participate, I am confident we shall surprise Zanu PF in its perceived strongholds. Delegates from the rural areas who attended the Saturday meeting reported an upsurge in the MDC support in those areas.
Rural Zimbabweans are deeply disturbed by the political, economic and social decay that is evident around them. Their businesses ceased to function many years ago. The cost of their basic necessities has gone up so much that many can’t afford to buy essentials like salt and soap.
They are united against Zanu PF and that is why that party unleashes violence on them. Rogue war veterans, militias and even the army are often deployed to harass and intimidate them.
In short, our rural areas have borne the brunt of the dictatorship and villagers everywhere have continuously been on the donor’s food queue for the past four years.
In spite of the much-publicized accusations against imaginary foreign and local saboteurs, the real enemies of Zimbabwe are being exposed every day. Hungry rural voters listen in amazement to the news of food exports masterminded by Mugabe’s cronies and associates when the majority are struggling to feed their families.
The regime’s propaganda campaign has lost its steam. The people know the truth, especially after failing to access their savings from the collapsing banks and building societies run by Zanu PF officials.
Senior Zanu PF politicians and Mugabe’s business cohorts are now on the run after their corruption bubble burst. Mugabe’s ministers have no confidence in Zimbabwe and prefer to invest millions of looted funds in neighbouring countries while our hospitals are collapsing.
Recent events show clearly that the rot is entrenched in a corrupt system of political patronage, nursed by a corrupt dictatorship that seeks to cling on power at the expense of the majority.
Most of the businessmen and women who are in trouble donated part of the booty to Zanu PF regularly, the most recent case being that party’s December conference. The record is clear.
We are in this mess, not because of lack of resources or the shortage of an enterprising and industrious people. We are in this mess because of mismanagement, lack of good governance and general misrule.
The only way to correct it is through a genuinely free and fair election that will enable us to put together a solid, people-driven Constitution. With hope and courage, we shall overcome fear.
Morgan Tsvangirai
President
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