Maravi

Tsvangirai lobbies region ahead of SADC summit

Tsvangirai lobbies region ahead of SADC summit
Written by George Chellah in Harare , Zimbabwe
Friday, November 07, 2008 3:36:27 AM

OPPOSITION MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai (right) has left Zimbabwe to lobby the region ahead of Sunday’s extraordinary SADC summit in South Africa.
And MDC secretary general Tendai Biti has said US President-elect Barack Obama’s victory will hopefully usher in a departure from the politics of polarisation, fear, unilateralism and arrogance that has defined President Bush’s doctrine over the last eight years.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa yesterday confirmed that Zimbabwe’s Prime Minster-designate Tsvangirai has left the country.

“The President of the Movement for Democratic Change, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai has left Zimbabwe to travel to South Africa and the region, ahead of Sunday’s Extraordinary SADC Summit. Mr. Tsvangirai has been forced to travel on a temporary Emergency Travel Document due to ZANU-PF’s continued failure or refusal to issue him with a valid passport,” Chamisa said. “The MDC condemns the lack of sincerity and good faith exhibited by ZANU-PF following the signing of the Global Political Agreement on September 15, and calls upon the former ruling party to engage with the MDC in an open and transparent manner in order that the political leadership can begin to address the suffering of the Zimbabwean people.”

And Biti praised Obama on his historical victory.

“Barack Obama has been elected the 44th President of the United States of America. We congratulate Obama, his family, his campaign staff and indeed the whole of America. To us, Obama’s victory is a victory of hope, faith, change, a restart, values and dreams which have underpinned our fight as a movement against dictatorship and the neo-fascism of Robert Mugabe,” Biti said. “Obama’s victory will hopefully usher in a departure from the politics of polarisation, fear, unilateralism and arrogance that has defined the Bush doctrine in the last eight years. Indeed, we hope that Obama will open new avenues of dialogue of new interaction based on respect of all countries irrespective of the size of national budgets or the number of fighter jets owned.”

He said the MDC also associates itself with the clear messages to those who would tear the world down, and to those who seek peace and security.

“Quite clearly, a full-stop has to be put to the years of plunder, dictatorship and corruption, civil wars, patronage and clientelism that has characterised many failed states particularly on the African continent,” Biti said.

“We are mindful of the difficulties that lie ahead in Obama’s path and the fact that this is no El Dorado, a construct that Obama himself acknowledges in his acceptance speech. Indeed it is a task that may take more than his two terms of office. Perhaps the greatest thing we have learnt from this victory is that democracy can work and that there is no alternative to the same.”

Biti also said Republican losing presidential candidate John McCain’s speech was particularly humbling, instructive and inspiring.

“If in Africa, incumbents would accept defeat and would graciously depart from the seat of power, this would be a different continent, and indeed Zimbabwe would be a different place,” Biti said. “For those of us who are still in the trenches, fighting for change and democracy across the entire African continent, this is our victory. One, which for now we will savour and celebrate.”

Labels: MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, SADC

posted by MrK @ 3:31 AM