‘Mugabe exit won’t help Zim’

via ‘Mugabe exit won’t help Zim’ – DailyNews Live Helen Kadirire • 8 February 2016

HARARE – A pumped-up opposition leader — Morgan Tsvangirai — said yesterday that only the “total” removal of Zanu PF from power, and not just the inevitable exit of President Robert Mugabe from high office would change Zimbabwe’s fortunes for the better.

The former prime minister during the government of national unity told reporters at a media conference at the MDC headquarters in Harare that the ruling party’s misrule now ran so deep that not even the death of its leader could, on its own, mitigate the ever plummeting fortunes of the country.

Tsvangirai spoke as Zimbabwe’s economy continues to die, with poverty and unemployment levels reaching record highs.

At the same time, Mugabe’s Zanu PF is consumed by deadly factional and succession wars pitting embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s supporters against the party’s ambitious Young Turks known as the Generation 40 (G40) group.

“Many people think that if Mugabe dies, the problem that has created the current crisis will go away. To be honest, Mugabe or no Mugabe, the system has entrenched itself and that is what we need to transform.

“If we do not transform it, we will get more of the same thing, whether it is Mnangagwa, (former Vice President Joice) Mujuru or whoever will take over. If the system has the same tentacles, the same governance culture, then the people of Zimbabwe will not be liberated,” Tsvangirai charged.

Turning to the dire political situation prevailing in the country, he said even the former Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo, had been convinced before the hotly disputed 2013 national elections that Mugabe harboured thoughts of being Zimbabwe’s life president.

In that light, Tsvangirai added, the only way for the country to move forward was to mobilise people to be even more engaged in political processes because ultimately it was only the people who could change their destiny and that of the country.

Turning to the yet-to-be launched People First party that is presumptively led by Mujuru, Tsvangirai said the MDC will only enter into discussions for a coalition with the outfit when the movement had formalised its existence.

“It is two years to the next elections and coalitions can only be formed by political parties as institutions. So far, the media is referencing People First, but I do not know whether that party has been formed.

“At individual levels, people are having their own initiatives. But certainly, there are no coalition talks that I am aware of. People wish that the opposition could work together and we also believe that it is the best way forward.

“When election time comes, perhaps it will dawn on all political parties to find a coalition. At the moment, there is no talk of a coalition,” the MDC leader said.

Tsvangirai went on to warn Zanu PF that under the ambit of the National Election Reform Agenda, the opposition would do everything possible to ensure that the 2018 election were fair and credible.

“We will not fight any colleague in the opposition. What a beauty it would be to go to an election with two parties, Zanu PF and the rest of us, and then, people will have a credible choice. I have no doubt that that desire for change will be achieved,” he said.

Since Zanu PF controversially retained power in 2013, the country has been on a downward spiral, with the economy bleeding hundreds of thousands of badly-needed jobs and social service delivery hitting an all-time low.

Apart from public hospitals now effectively serving as mortuaries, restive civil servants have also been toyi-toying intermittently for their salaries and bonuses as the country’s broke government fails to meet its obligations.