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Tsvangirai will only accept a win

by Staff reporter
02 May 2017 at 12:46hrs | Views
MDC-T president Morgan Tsvangirai has warned President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF that he will not accept the results if he loses the eagerly-awaited next year's elections.

The dogged former labour union leader said he was aware that Mugabe was planning to manipulate the results and warned that there will not be a repeat of what happened in 2013 when he grudgingly conceded defeat.

"Munhu ane 93 anovimba nechii? (Where does a 93-year-old person get the confidence to participate in elections?). He wants to cheat. He thinks he can get away with cheating to win.

"We know what you are doing, we have all the information that you want to cheat again like you did with Nikuv in 2013, but this time around it will not happen.

"Takanangana nema elections ari kuuya 2018, there is no outcome yatinobvuma isiri (which we will accept besides a) victory for the opposition…Ini 2018 kana ndisina kuhwina handibvume (If I do not win in 2018, I will not accept the results). Because it's very simple, how a minority win over the majority, how does a divided, fragmented minority win over the united opposition and a united alternative to the people," Tsvangirai told workers who gathered yesterday at Dzivaresekwa Stadium to commemorate Workers' Day.

The former prime minister in the inclusive government said the opposition, coalescing under the banner of the National Electoral Reform Agenda (Nera), will continue to push for much-needed electoral reforms before elections are held.

In the meantime, Tsvangirai and leaders of smaller opposition parties, who include former Vice President Joice Mujuru, have been working on a grand coalition which analysts say presents them with the best opportunity of finally ending Mugabe and Zanu-PF's long but tumultuous rule.

In significant developments last month, Tsvangirai signed memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with Mujuru and his former secretary-general Welshman Ncube, ahead of the finalisation of the planned electoral alliance.

Analysts have also repeatedly said Mujuru, whose liberation struggle nom de guerre was Teurai Ropa (Spill Blood), and whose husband Solomon was the first black post-independence army commander, could provide the much-needed bridge that opposition parties have been missing to ensure the smooth transfer of power if they win elections again.

Source - dailynews