Why insult me if you won: Tsvangirai asks Mugabe
By Jeffrey Muvundusi
BULAWAYO – MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai has questioned President Robert Mugabe’s motive in his unrestrained attack on him saying the 89-year-old cannot win legitimacy of the people through foul language.
Mugabe has used various platforms including his inauguration ceremony to denounce his former government partner. But Tsvangirai, who was received like royalty by his Bulawayo supporters at the Large City Hall, yesterday scoffed at verbal assaults aimed at him as uncalled for.
Tsvangirai had visited Bulawayo to thank supporters for voting his party.
“You start insulting Tsvangirai. Okay it’s fine you won, so why insult me,” the opposition leader asked.
“You have been inaugurated as a new president so now fulfil what you promised the people. But the first thing he does is to attack the people of Bulawayo and Harare saying you did not vote for me so go to Tsvangirai,” he said.
“You are insulting me calling me all sorts of names but I am simply saying you made yourself a father, so lead the country,” he added.
The former prime minister said the reason why Mugabe lashed out at the residents from the two big cities was because he knew that his government would not deliver.
He challenged Mugabe and his party to revive the industries in Bulawayo as well as improve service delivery in the local authorities in the wake of the debt write-off by the party.
The MDC leader who was speaking before a fully-packed venue declared Bulawayo a liberated zone.
“I feel proud, elated and humbled. The reason why I am humbled is in spite of national mourning, Bulawayo remains a liberated zone despite rigging by Zanu PF,” he said.
He paid tribute to the people of Bulawayo, the only city where Zanu PF failed to pick a single seat in the recent elections.
“How was MDC spared in Bulawayo in the tsunami is because they faced stiff resistance and left empty handed. They also felt that poor Weshman (Ncube) will finish us off but that was not to be.”
Tsvangirai said it was impossible for president Mugabe to garner two million votes in this country given the history of the party’s insensitivity towards national development.
“Where can Mugabe get two million votes in this country in your wildest dreams,” he asked.
Tsvangirai who appeared strong and confident said the theft of votes set a wrong precedent in African politics as his party never really lost the elections.
He however, bemoaned the loss saying: “What has happened is the democratisation agenda in Africa has been depressed by what happened in Zimbabwe.
“Tell me, which president will want to lose an election through a ballot. All he needs to do is to go to Mugabe and say how did you do it,” he explained.
Tsvangirai accused Zanu PF of spending over $10 million to Nikuv “to subvert the will of the people”. He dismissed reports by some naysayers that MDC was finished following the loss in the elections saying the party was now in fact a rejuvenated lot.
“The MDC is now at its strongest point. The party represents the future and the expectations of the country,” he said adding that his party was still committed to democratic change in the country.
Turning to the local authority issue that has in the last week torched a storm over the imposition of mayors Tsvangirai said: “People think that I have come to impose the mayor but I won’t do that. I am not a dictator. I consult first and this is what I am going to do.”
He also announced that unlike in the previous government where local authorities were left to run themselves, programmes for local authorities will come from the party. Daily News
