Tsvangirai end of year address to the media

Thursday, 16 December 2010   

It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to this press conference which comes after day-long deliberations by the national executive committee and the national council of the MDC. Let me say at the outset that the MDC is a people-centred party and the people are always at the core of our business and deliberations. We are the true repository of the people’s aspirations and we have a duty to make a public announcement when we take far-reaching decisions in the interest of the people of Zimbabwe.

We have remained resolute, in the full knowledge that we are the true people’s representatives because of the clear mandate given to us in a legitimate election. Today’s meeting of the national council is the last meeting of the year; a tumultuous year in which we have experienced both progress and frustrations  in our quest to bring about real change to the people of Zimbabwe.

It is a year in which evidence abounds that our participation in government has added value and improved the lives of the people. But it is also a year in which we have recorded frustrations as a result of stagnation in the resolution of the outstanding issues of the GPA and President Robert Mugabe’s unilateral and unconstitutional acts.

These frustrations have slowed the pace of democratic reforms, which are the core business of the inclusive government if we are to prepare conditions conductive for a free and fair election as spelt out in the GPA. However, these frustrations have not dampened our spirits, but have instead spurred us to continue with our collective journey of hope towards a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning.

The MDC National Council met today and among other things, the Council debated the following;

• The state of the State and the general living conditions of the people of Zimbabwe,
• The state of the Party ,
• The issue of the country’s resources including the issues of diamonds and empowerment,
• The question of violence, the rule of law and security of the person, and
• The question of elections and the country’s state of preparedness.

Having so debated the above issues, Council resolved as follows;

1.  THE STATE OF THE PARTY
a.    Council noted the provisions of Article 5.2.2 of the Party’s Constitution with regards to the holding of a Congress and therefore directs that the Party Congress shall be held by the 30th of May 2011.

b.    Council further waives strict compliance with the time limits provided in the Constitution.

2.  THE CONSTITUTION-MAKING PROCESS
a.    Council notes the problems of legitimacy, violence and infringement and assault of the constitution-making process.
b.    The party further notes the derailment of the peoples’ will in this process.
c.    Be that as it may, Council directs that the current constitution making process must be concluded and a referendum must be held.

3.   THE GLOBAL POLITICAL AGREEMENT
a.    Council notes the existence of the following outstanding issues;

• The swearing-in of Roy Bennett,
• The issue of the RBZ Governor and Attorney General,
• Provincial Governors,
• Review and reallocation of ministerial mandates,
• The unilateral alternation of ministerial mandates, and

b.    Pursuant to the aborted Extra-Ordinary Meeting of the SADC Organ Troika of the 20th of November 2010, Council calls on SADC to immediately reconvene the aborted meeting to discuss the following

• The outstanding issues,
• The roadmap to elections, and
• Toxic issues including the issue of violence, deployment, of security agents in the countryside and a corrosive media.

c.    Council expresses its regret at the failure to execute the 24 agreed issues and now calls on the Principals of the parties to take measures to implement and execute the agreed positions as reflected in the Negotiators report dated the 3rd of April 2010 and more importantly, to enforce and uphold the Implementation Matrix as agreed by the Principals on the 8th of June 2010.

4.    ELECTIONS AND ELECTORAL PROCESSES

a.    Council notes and restates the position that an election in Zimbabwe should be held to deal with the question of illegitimacy associated with the farcial Presidential run-off election of June 2008.

b.    For the avoidance of doubt, Council resolves that the next election should be solely for the disputed Presidential election of 2008 with a harmonised election to be held in 2013 as prescribed in the Constitution.

c.    Further, Council restates that Zanu PF nor its President do not have the right of unilaterally calling for the aforesaid Presidential election and that Article 23.1.b of the GPA and the 8th Schedule of the Constitution which requires agreement, should be respected.

d.    Further, Council notes that the SADC Roadmap on elections dealing with

• The creation of adequate conditions for a free and fair elections,
• Guarantees against violence and security of the person,
• Proper monitoring and policing of the election including the question of SADC presence six months before and six months after the election, and
• Guarantees with respect to the honouring of the peoples’ will,and urge that the same be put in place before the aforesaid elections.

5.    CONDITIONS OF THE PEOPLE OF ZIMBABWE

• Council notes the suffering of the Zimbabwean people and the attempts of the Inclusive Government to mitigate the aforesaid suffering.
• However, Council notes the leakages, corruption, opaqueness and lack of accountability associated particularly with minerals and extractive industries in general.
• Chiadzwa

i. Council therefore applauds and supports the Government decision that all alluvial diamonds should be owned and mined by the State, and
ii. Urges the immediate crafting of the Diamond Act that will legalise the above issue and create the National Sovereign Fund.

d.    Civil Service Audit

i.  Council notes the existence of thousands of ghost workers in government who are affecting government capacity to remunerate the genuine civil servant.
ii.  Council therefore urges the immediate publication and execution of the long awaited public service audit.

6.    VIOLENCE AND INTIMIDATION

• Council condemns in the strongest language all acts of violence targeted against MDC members by rogue elements within the State,
• Further, Council notes the deployment of serving and retired security personnel in the countryside as a machination of inculcating a culture of fear amongst the rural people,
• Council therefore calls on the withdrawal of all deployed security personnel in the countryside.
• Council calls on the Organ on National Healing, Reconciliation and Integration to speed up the process of national healing to abate any forms of political violence.
• Council calls on the International Criminal Court to name and prosecute all perpetrators of post election violence in Kenya.
• Further, Council calls on the Attorney General and the Judiciary to prosecute all perpetrators of violence.
• Furthermore, Council calls on the South African Government to release the South African Judges Report into electoral violence of 2002 and the South African Generals’ Report of the 2008 electoral violence.

7.    RESOLUTION ON IVORY COAST

• Council applauds the people of Ivory Coast for voting peacefully.
• Council notes the defiance and lack of respect of democracy and the will of the people by losing candidate Laurent Gbagbo in failing to relinquish power tantamount to a military coup.
• Council applauds ECOWAS and the AU in their efforts to finding sustainable peaceful solutions in Ivory Coast.
• Further, Council calls on Mr. Laurent Gbagbo to respect the will of the people, the election results and concede state power to Mr. Alassane Quattara and his political party to allow for stability and growth in the West African country.

8.    RESOLUTION ON WIKILEAKS

• Council notes attempts to divide the party and cause division in the Party by Zanu PF and state agencies.
• Council also notes the continuation of this agenda through various channels including diplomatic leaks now known as WikiLeaks.
• Council therefore condemns the aforesaid attempts to divide us and indeed the reports in the aforesaid WikiLeaks.
• Council restates the strength of the party and reaffirms that the party cannot be divided or de-branded by the loony actions of a dying Zanu PF empire.

I thank you