Opinion / Letters
Who is Tsvangirai working for
05 Apr 2012 at 08:21hrs | Views
Three years into the coalition government and Morgan Tsvangirai is a well-travelled man. He has nothing else to keep him busy as he has no power to do anything except Mugabe's bidding and Mugabe wants the Prime Minister to go around grinding out the sanctions tune.
He could, of course, do some housekeeping work for the MDC, but he must be tired of his meetings being disrupted by Zanu-PF and cancelled by the police. And party business is not as much fun as slapping the well-suited back of a real Prime Minister.
After his talks with David Cameron in London, the Vigil began to wonder who exactly Tsvangirai is working for. His message explained in Parliament on Wednesday by Tsvangirai himself was: remove sanctions and give us lots of money. Never mind that there have been no reforms and that Zimbabweans are now world-renowned for never paying their debts. Ask Mugabe why he has not paid his electricity bill of $350,000….
What we at the Vigil want from Tsvangirai is a strategy to secure free and fair elections in the face of total obstruction from Mugabe's cronies â€" the people he wants to legitimize. We have heard of no such strategy and time is fast running out. Unfortunately there are still a few countries he hasn't visited and some backs he hasn't slapped. After all he is now Premier Class.
So the Vigil is stepping into the vacuum by sending the following letter to the British Prime Minister:
Dear Mr Cameron
The Zimbabwe Vigil is pleased to hear that you gave the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, your commitment to help achieve free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
The Vigil has been demonstrating outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for ten years in support of this cause.
President Mugabe has insisted on elections this year even though a new constitution has not yet been adopted or reforms made as required by the Global Political Agreement he signed after the violent elections of 2008.
President Mugabe's supporters have made it clear that they will again employ the methods that sabotaged those elections, including violence and ballot rigging.
The Vigil believes the international community has a duty of care to Zimbabweans to prevent bloodshed and ensure a fair poll. The contribution of regional observers during previous elections has been questionable and the Vigil calls for UN involvement this time.
We are grateful for the UK government's financial assistance for suffering Zimbabweans and ask that you go further and, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, transmit the Vigil's petition for UN help: 'We call on the Security Council to ensure that the next elections in Zimbabwe are free and fair. We look to the United Nations to supervise the electoral process and the handover of power to a new government and believe peace-keeping troops will need to be in place before, during and after the polling.'
As you will see the petition has been signed by more than 10,000 people from all over the world who have stopped by the Vigil.
We ask for an opportunity to present this petition to you or your representative in the near future as time for Zimbabwe is running short.
Yours sincerely
Vigil Co-ordinators
He could, of course, do some housekeeping work for the MDC, but he must be tired of his meetings being disrupted by Zanu-PF and cancelled by the police. And party business is not as much fun as slapping the well-suited back of a real Prime Minister.
After his talks with David Cameron in London, the Vigil began to wonder who exactly Tsvangirai is working for. His message explained in Parliament on Wednesday by Tsvangirai himself was: remove sanctions and give us lots of money. Never mind that there have been no reforms and that Zimbabweans are now world-renowned for never paying their debts. Ask Mugabe why he has not paid his electricity bill of $350,000….
What we at the Vigil want from Tsvangirai is a strategy to secure free and fair elections in the face of total obstruction from Mugabe's cronies â€" the people he wants to legitimize. We have heard of no such strategy and time is fast running out. Unfortunately there are still a few countries he hasn't visited and some backs he hasn't slapped. After all he is now Premier Class.
So the Vigil is stepping into the vacuum by sending the following letter to the British Prime Minister:
Dear Mr Cameron
The Zimbabwe Vigil is pleased to hear that you gave the Zimbabwean Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, your commitment to help achieve free and fair elections in Zimbabwe.
The Vigil has been demonstrating outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in London every Saturday for ten years in support of this cause.
President Mugabe has insisted on elections this year even though a new constitution has not yet been adopted or reforms made as required by the Global Political Agreement he signed after the violent elections of 2008.
President Mugabe's supporters have made it clear that they will again employ the methods that sabotaged those elections, including violence and ballot rigging.
The Vigil believes the international community has a duty of care to Zimbabweans to prevent bloodshed and ensure a fair poll. The contribution of regional observers during previous elections has been questionable and the Vigil calls for UN involvement this time.
We are grateful for the UK government's financial assistance for suffering Zimbabweans and ask that you go further and, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, transmit the Vigil's petition for UN help: 'We call on the Security Council to ensure that the next elections in Zimbabwe are free and fair. We look to the United Nations to supervise the electoral process and the handover of power to a new government and believe peace-keeping troops will need to be in place before, during and after the polling.'
As you will see the petition has been signed by more than 10,000 people from all over the world who have stopped by the Vigil.
We ask for an opportunity to present this petition to you or your representative in the near future as time for Zimbabwe is running short.
Yours sincerely
Vigil Co-ordinators
Source - Zimbabwe Vigil
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