‘Let’s talk to save Zim’

via ‘Let’s talk to save Zim’ – DailyNews Live 27 July 2014

HARARE – Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday called for internationally-brokered efforts across the political spectrum to pursue dialogue to move Zimbabwe out of a deepening economic crisis.

Tsvangirai was speaking at a meeting at Chatham House in London, and called for help, both financially and with expertise, to improve Zimbabwe’s long-term economic development.

The MDC leader believes in brokering talks to extricate the country from a deepening economic crisis characterised by deep budget cuts and growing unemployment tipping more people into depression.

“An internationally-brokered national dialogue of all stakeholders would be a good starting point to avert the national crisis gripping the nation,” the opposition leader said.

The last talks brokered by Sadc helped end a stalemate over disputed elections and stabilised the economy but the fragile alliance was mired with squabbling over policy and the slow pace of reforms.

The former premier spoke about the geo-political impact of Zimbabwe’s political dispute in the wake of the disputed July 31, 2013 vote, on the same week that Mugabe claimed he won fair and square and claimed the economy was recovering.

Tsvangirai said he believed a “internationally-led process” of compromise and reform was possible, but said he was not calling for another government of national unity.

But, suggesting frustration at the lack of real compromise between the authorities and the opposition, he added: “And I am aware that there are some who have sought to give conditions to this national dialogue.”

Mugabe’s Zanu PF told the Daily News recently that it would be prepared to talk to the opposition only after it recognises Mugabe as a legitimately-elected president.

Tsvangirai said the primary catastrophe was “the crisis of legitimacy that has eroded all confidence and trust in the government.”

“Zimbabweans do not have any faith in the government in Harare because they know they did not vote for it,” he said.

“The international community also knows what happened.”

He said “a genuine and well-meaning national conversation should not be handcuffed by subjective and self-serving conditions that demean the people of Zimbabwe who know the truth of what happened in the last election.”

Mugabe won the July 31 vote but his main rival, Tsvangirai, denounced it as a “huge fraud”. The EU also expressed serious concerns over alleged irregularities.

“The people of Zimbabwe ought to be encouraged to discuss their national predicament and hammer out what needs to be done to extricate the country from this man-made quagmire,” Tsvangirai said.

“Put simply, the domestic solution is unconditional dialogue by a broad section of Zimbabweans to unpack the crisis and chart the way forward.”

Tsvangirai reflected on the importance of strengthening opposition politics for Zimbabwe’s future and the role that international partners can play in Zimbabwe’s democratic progress. He said the international community still had a big role to play.

“Gone are the days of lone-ranger antics in a global village. We must rejoin the family of nations,” he said.

“The current national reality is that we are isolated from meaningful investment capital flow and substantial development financial assistance.

“Zanu PF’s narrowly focused and confined ‘Look East’ policy has not yielded direct fiscal support.

“We have had a myopic foreign policy that overlooks the significance of the broader international community, thereby underplaying the potential of leveraging international relationships in a broad sense.”

He said Zimbabwe, isolated since 2000 after the advent of the land reform programme, must once again rejoin the family of nations, “in its wide scope, in mutually beneficial relationships largely driven, on our part, by the desire to enhance and further the interest of the ordinary citizen of our country.”

“Zimbabwe needs friends, strategic partners and promoters across the breadth of the international community,” he said. “Our international relations, even at the regional level, require fixing.

“We have been consistently inconsistent for so long that there are not many takers supporting our plans for the way forward. The safest bet is to shift our mindset towards new thinking and new pronouncements that are inclined towards mutually beneficial policies.”

The 28-nation bloc has begun the process of removing top regime cronies from the sanctions list, EU foreign affairs spokesman Michael Mann has said, and all sanctions could be dropped by November.

The decision gives a boost to Mugabe, whose Zanu PF party calls EU sanctions illegal.

“I am aware that the EU has decided to re-engage Zimbabwe and I know that the people of Zimbabwe stand to benefit from any form of re-engagement,” Tsvangirai said.

“But the international community must not just re-engage without a framework; but must insist on implementation of agreed electoral conditions and the embracing of universally acceptable standards by the authorities in Harare.

“We also notice that sanctions have to all intents and purposes been removed except the travel bans on Mugabe and his wife. This is welcome in that it obliterates and removes any excuse by the government for not delivering services to the people.”

The EU lifted most of its sanctions last year but an asset freeze and travel ban remains for the veteran leader.

After winning elections last year, Mugabe called for the EU to boost ties with Zimbabwe and the removal of sanctions.

Tsvangirai said he does not encourage a mere removal of sanctions without a framework that plods and entices the nation towards the respect of full democratic values.

“You must insist on the government in Harare respecting and implementing the national Constitution,” he said.

“You must insist on the need to respect the rule of law and the conditions sanctioned by Sadc to ensure that the next election is vaccinated from the periodic mischief that has blighted the credibility of all our elections.

“Any re-engagement must be accompanied by a stubborn insistence by the international community on the universally accepted standards that ensure the guarantee of full freedoms and the enfranchising of the ordinary citizen.”

He said any re-engagement must be alive to the past and present acts of omission and commission and the crimes committed against Zimbabweans.

“Individual EU countries must not just call for re-engagement because of the selfish interests of their respective individual countries,” he said.

“They must re-engage to add to global pressure on universally acceptable norms and standards of governance that respect the interests of the people of Zimbabwe.”

Tsvangirai said he will “take permanent residence in the trenches until democracy is achieved in Zimbabwe.”

“I have no doubt in my mind that with unconditional dialogue by the people of Zimbabwe and with international re-engagement premised conditionally on universally accepted standards, we will forge a way out of the current morass,” Tsvangirai said.