Tsvangirai Revives Poll Fraud Fight, Says Country In Dire Straits

via RadioVop Zimbabwe – Tsvangirai Revives Poll Fraud Fight, Says Country In Dire Straits 20 December 2013 By Professor Matodzi 

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) will soon embark on an advocacy campaign to influence the regional and international community to push for the holding of fresh elections in the troubled southern African country so as to address the illegitimate leadership of President Robert Mugabe.

Speaking at a media briefing convened Friday at the party’s Harvest House offices, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai said the disputed July harmonised election has led to the parlous state of the economy with multi-layered crises of legitimacy, governance and leadership.

To move out of the political and economic morass, Tsvangirai said the only sustainable way forward is to hold another election that will guarantee a return to legitimacy and a return to confidence.

“We will be embarking on a global advocacy campaign to the AU, SADC and the internal community on the need for the reversal of the fraudulent result of 2013,” said Tsvangirai.

The MDC-T leader said the July election in which the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declared President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF party as winners was marred by fraud and several irregularities and his party had prepared a dossier detailing how the rigging of the election was executed.

“All the other facets of the national crisis stem from the crisis of legitimacy because this government has no mandate from the people and that is why there has been serious erosion of confidence in the government itself and the economy,” Tsvangirai said.

The former Prime Minister said President Mugabe’s administration has abdicated its responsibilities to the vagaries of the economic weather, allowing the winds of fate to drift the nation state to whatever plight and economic destination.

“We all can see that we are alone as individuals and as families because nobody in government seems to understand our plight and the interventions that are required for us to have some semblance of normalcy and decency in our lives,” he said.

With more than 100 days in office, the Zanu PF administration has failed to stem the worsening economic crisis and fears are abound that the country is slowly sliding to the chaos and collapse of 2008.

More than two million people are facing starvation owing to poor grain harvests while several companies are closing.