The movement was formed to achieve and attain peaceful and democratic constitutional change in Zimbabwe that would have been a precondition for the restructuring and reconstruction of our national economy.

That agenda still remains on the table. We are aware that the year is full of political opportunities for the resolution of the Zimbabwean crisis. It is a watershed year.

The tragedy we face today stems from the fact that Zanu PF and Mugabe have completed their project to turn Zimbabwe into a totalitarian state. The
militarisation of the state is now common knowledge; the regime has declared war onto the people; life no longer has any meaning, given the unbearable cost of living, a runaway Aids pandemic and an unacceptable rise in the number of orphans and the vulnerable.

Every hour, Zimbabwe's crisis of governance is deepening. Zanu PF and Robert Mugabe have no answers to the problems the nation is facing. Thousands of Zimbabwean children have dropped out of school this year because the fees are too high. Workers have been exposed to a form of slavery as their wages are way below the poverty datum line and transport costs are several times higher than average earnings. Students at our tertiary colleges and in our schools are in desperate circumstances. Our parents in the rural areas are handcuffed by unprecedented poverty.

We are guided by an urgent call to save our country and immediately embark on a comprehensive programme of national integration, national healing and national reconstruction. Using a divisive and corrupt patronage system, Mugabe and Zanu PF have severely narrowed the people's access to opportunities and to the national cake.

The patronage system, based on assumptions of personal loyalty to Mugabe and traditional blood lines, has created serious mistrust and perceptions of
exclusion among various ethnic groups and turned Zimbabweans into separate
groups, suspicious of each other's motives, especially in government. From
Matabeleland, right through Masvingo and Manicaland, Zimbabweans - across the political, ethnic and racial divide -- strongly feel a sense of exclusion from the natural benefits of their birthright. We wish to deal with this fragmentation and build a nation based on unity, fairness, compassion, solidarity and inclusiveness.

As stated above, now more than ever before, we need to resolve the national
crisis. It is within this context that the national executive and the national
council met on Friday 13 January 2007 to craft a solid agenda that will guide
our movement in the murky waters of 2007. Central to our strategic thinking was Zanu PF's project of making a life President out of Robert Mugabe by pushing the Presidential elections to 2010. The national council acknowledged that the project and obsession of power retention legally and extra-legally needs to be resisted.

In this regard, the national council resolved that we would engage in a campaign that will ensure that the Zanu PF project collapses and that the agenda for democracy and change should be pursued vigorously. We resolved we will vote in 2008 but under a new people-driven Constitution. This demand shall be a rallying call for our activities in 2007. The demand is a mere restatement of our ROADMAP. Under our ROADMAP, the only way to resolve the political crisis is through the crafting of a new, people-driven Constitution leading to a genuine free and fair election after a period of confidence-building, a healing period which should see the repeal of repressive laws such as POSA and AIPPA and the dismantling of Zanu PF's parallel structures of power such as the militia.

The execution of the above campaign will demand a united and popular front for its successful implementation. Our synergies and chemistry with our civic and political friends and partners in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign ought to be strengthened. We endorsed the resolution of our partners in civil society under the Save Zimbabwe campaign and agreed to combine efforts to resolve the national crisis through a democratic vote in 2008, under a new Constitution. The main component of our plan for 2008 is the agenda of a public expression of our rejection of the extension of the status quo.

I know that the regime shall employ desperate tactics to silence Zimbabweans who are against Mugabe's extension of his rule to 2010. The regime shall confront all of us in the forlorn hope of imposing its will onto the people. We must be ready for it.

Our call for elections in 2008 must be clearly understood. We are against
elections under the current electoral conditions, which breed pre-determined
outcomes. Our call for elections in 2008 is out of the realization that the national crisis can not be extended by another day. The people have had enough.

The party will have to get ready for the Presidential election in 2008. This will be the central agenda in 2007 including the revamping of our structures and strategies.

The execution of our programme in 2007 will demand strong and visible international relations activities. Indeed, it is time that the Zimbabwean question became the key focus of attention in SADC, the African Union and the United Nations. Our international relations department, together with our partners in the Save Zimbabwe Campaign will in 2007 execute a vigorous international relations campaign that articulates the national crisis and our Roadmap. We call on the international community to be in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe.

The party in 2007 will engage in a more robust policy campaign. On the policy front, the New Zimbabwe campaign is intended to provide solutions and answers to the Zimbabwe crisis once democratic change is attained. In this regard, our party secretaries are almost completing the updating of our policies on health, land, mining, integration and local government to mention but a few. Only yesterday, our new Zimbabwe Lecture series was launched in Harare amid unprecedented enthusiasm and interest from a broad spectrum of Zimbabweans. The Lecture series will continue to discuss pertinent national issues and the party will publish the same as a book.

The MDC national executive and the national council reaffirmed that only a
public expression of that national sentiment shall force Mugabe and Zanu PF to realize the power of the people. People power shall be our salvation. The MDC shall work hard to harness that national feeling in 2007 and save Zimbabwe from further damage.

Zimbabweans are a peace loving people. That they have painfully avoided
resorting to mayhem, chaos or arms of war to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis
demonstrates their faith in an orderly political transition and a sovereign right to change. The people are informed by a universal behaviour currency that steers democratic change through people power.

The time to act s now. We vowed to pursue the struggle, in line with our Congress mandate, by mobilizing the people to stop Mugabe from becoming a life president and from tinkering with the Constitution in order to perpetuate his rule to 2010. I call upon all Zimbabweans across the class, racial and ethnic divide to close ranks and take it upon themselves to save Zimbabwe. I call upon business, labour, students, the informal sector, the church and all those in the Diaspora to join us in our quest to end tyranny and to bring about a new Zimbabwe. Now is the time to act.

I thank you.