(NEWZIMBABWE) Foiled at polls, ex-PM hopes economy will floor Mugabe
08/11/2013 00:00:00
by Gilbert Nyambabvu
DESPITE being beaten at the polls (which he disputes), MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai was upbeat Friday, rallying his troops with the promise that President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party may yet be toppled - by the economy. The former Prime Minister addressed supporters in Chitungwiza in what the MDC-T said was part of an ongoing “national networking” campaign.
“I want to tell you that you won the 31 July election. You did not lose it, but it is Robert Mugabe who stole the election and is causing a national crisis and I will not let you down until we achieve democratic change,” Tsvangirai said, according to a party statement.
The MDC-T chief lost the presidential vote by a landslide in the July 31 elections while Mugabe’s Zanu PF party claimed a huge majority in Parliament.
Tsvangirai however, refuses to accept the outcome, claiming the election was rigged.
The former trade union chief has fought and lost three successive elections against Mugabe but came close to toppling the veteran leader in 2008 when he won the first round of the vote before pulling out of the run-off, claiming Zanu PF henchmen had unleashed violence against his supporters.
At the time, the country’s economy was near complete collapse after a recession lasting several years with runaway inflation reaching stratospheric levels of 6.5 sextillion percent, by some estimates.
Some stability and marginal recovery was achieved with the ditching of the Zimbabwe dollar in 2009 and the establishment of a coalition administration whose fractious tenure ended with the July 31 elections.
However, the MDC-T hierarchy sees what they describe as the “crisis of legitimacy” created by the “fraudulent” election adversely impacting the still sickly economy, in a development they privately expect to play into their hands.
Said Tsvangirai Friday: “Although Zanu PF stole the election, it cannot steal the economy.”
He added that many people were losing jobs around the country as companies closed on a daily basis “because Zanu PF had created a national crisis (through the fraudulent vote) which has resulted in the declining of the country’s economy”.
The message was repeated by other top leaders in a meeting also held Friday at the party’s head office in central Harare.
Said deputy president Thokozani Khupe: “I remember on 29 July at the crossover rally held in Harare telling over 100,000 people gathered that on 1 August, the people were going to work up to news that Zimbabwe had a new President, a Vice President and a new economy that will give people food, jobs and shelter.
“But on August 1, we all woke up to a nightmare - another Zanu PF electoral theft. However, the MDC is a value driven party not a power driven party like Zanu PF that would spend millions of dollars to rig an election. While they may have rigged the election, they cannot rig the economy.”
National organising secretary Nelson Chamisa added: “Zanu PF knows it committed a serious electoral fraud. They are refusing to open the Mt Pleasant ballots because again, they are afraid to expose their fraud. We have a problem in Zimbabwe.
“Because of the fraud, they do not have an answer to the water and electricity challenges. Up to date we have no budget, the available government seed is given on a partisan basis and industries are closing. This is not the behaviour of a national government.”
Tsvangirai insisted that another debilitating economic crisis could only be avoided if “key reforms (are) put in place and the country (moves) on by holding fresh, free and fair elections.”
Labels: MDC TREASON, MORGAN TSVANGIRAI, NEOLIBERALISM, THOKOZANI KHUPE
Read more...
(NEWZIMBABWE, SOUTHERN EYE) Circumcision helps stem cancer: Khupe
18/10/2013 00:00:00
by Southern Eye
MDC-T DEPUTY leader Thokozani Khupe has backed calls for men to consider circumcision to help curb new cervical cancer infections in the country. Cervical cancer is caused by a sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV).
Khupe told Southern Eye that men need to seriously consider circumcision to not only prevent the spread of the HPV that causes cancer, but to help reduce new HIV infections.
“I am saying men should look at these issues seriously to save lives.
“If we have men who are circumcised, we will have 60% chances of not transmitting virus that causes cancer,” Khupe said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Health experts say other than reducing the spread of HIV by 60%, male circumcision offers partial protection against sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Khupe said statistics show that 1 200 women die annually from cervical cancer that affects a further 1 800 women in Zimbabwe.
“This is the reason why I am calling on men to undergo circumcision.
“By getting circumcised men will also protect themselves from STIs and HIV,” Khupe added, noting that cervical cancer accounts for 32% of all cancers among women.
Khupe recently called for the introduction of a cancer levy to deal with all cancer-related health matters.
The World Health Organisation indicates that the high number of cervical cancer infections and deaths are as a result of HIV and Aids where women who are HIV-positive are thought to be three to five times more likely to develop cervical lesions that become cancerous.
Research shows that signs of cervical cancer include a discharge with traces of blood and pain during sexual intercourse, abnormal bleeding or a sudden change in one’s menstrual cycle that cannot be explained, among others.
Khupe’s motion was introduced Wednesday in Parliament Wednesday where she called for the setting up of centres to treat cancer around the country.
Speaker Jacob Mudenda said MPs should support the Thoko Khupe Cancer Foundation with donations, saying it was a noble idea.
Mudenda, a Zanu PF member said one of his friend’s mother was saved by Khupe’s intervention through the foundation.
Labels: CIRCUMCISION, FRAUD, HIV/AIDS FRAUD, MDC CORRUPTION, THOKOZANI KHUPE
Read more...
(HERALD ZW) We’ve no vote-rigging proof: Khupe
October 15, 2013
Freedom Mupanedemo Midlands Correspondent—
MDC-T is struggling to obtain substantive evidence that Zanu-PF “stole” the 31 July elections and has urged its supporters to forget about the heavy defeat and brace for 2018 elections. Addressing about 300 supporters who turned up for Mkoba constituency victory celebrations at Mkoba Stadium on Sunday, MDC-T vice president Ms Thokozani Khupe said the party leadership was still shocked by Zanu-PF’s resounding victory.
She said the party should move out of its “mourning” mood and prepare for the 2018 elections. “My brothers and sisters, everyone was shocked by the July 31 elections and I know most of us are still mourning.
“As the party leadership, we have been to all the provinces and we have been told ‘chilling stories’ of how Zanu-PF stole the election,” she said.
Ms Khupe said MDC-T was yet to obtain anything tangible to show the world that Zanu-PF rigged. She said party members should pick themselves up and prepare for the next elections, five years from now.
She claimed that the whole world was aware that Zanu-PF “rigged the election” but needed tangible evidence to act.
“We are yet to get any substantive information to provide the world. We wanted ZEC (the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) to avail us with the material that was used during the voting process, but they refused. We also wanted an electronic voters’ roll but they also refused to release it and there is therefore nothing we can do,” she said.
ZEC is not refusing to give MDC-T voting materials, but is complying with a court ruling, which denied the party access to the materials.
Sadc and the African Union declared the elections free and fair and an expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe .
African leaders, among them South African President Jacob Zuma, urged MDC-T to bring forward evidence of “rigging” but up to now the party has not done so.
The United Nations has since congratulated President Mugabe for the resounding victory and the world body’s secretary-general Mr Ban Ki-moon’s message flew in the face of the Anglo-Saxon alliance of the United States, Britain and Australia that stubbornly refuses to recognise the elections that have been endorsed by the AU, Sadc, Comesa, ACP and over 40 countries spread across five continents as a credible expression of the will of Zimbabweans.
Even former UN secretary-general Mr Kofi Annan, whose dislike of President Mugabe is known, recently told the British Guardian that President Mugabe did not need “games” to win.
Two MDC-T provinces — Mashonaland East and Matabeleland North — have openly admitted that Zanu-PF won the elections cleanly despite the party’s national leaders harping on rigging claims.
Mashonaland East took full responsibility for the defeat, while Matabeleland North blamed it on the imposition of candidates, a weak manifesto and shambolic structures.
Ms Khupe said the mourning should come to an end.
“I know everyone here is still mourning this defeat, I have come here to give you hope. We should not continue mourning. We should be hopeful like the biblical David and prepare for another fight come next elections.
“As it is, Zanu-PF believes they have dealt us a heavy blow. My advice to you is let’s focus for another fight,” she said.
Ms Khupe said the party would stand by its leader, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai, who would be the party candidate in 2018.
“We will stand by our president, Morgan Richard Tsvangirai. In Matabeleland we say Tsvangirai ngenkani, ongafuniyo khayekele,” she said apparently confirming the rising discord within the party over Mr Tsvangirai’s continued stay at the helm.
Labels: 2013 ELECTIONS (ZW), THOKOZANI KHUPE
Read more...
