Members of the National Council

Congress delegates

Distinguished guests

Ladies and Gentlemen:

1. Tribute to our heroes and heroines

Six years ago we met in Chitungwiza and made a decision that has since changed the political life of Zimbabwe. Six years ago we made a solemn pledge to confront the dictatorship and put on the ground our lives to bring about democratic change in Zimbabwe.

Today, I stand before you to retrace that difficult journey we have travelled together. I humbly present myself to Congress to reflect on our experiences and to record the lessons from this struggle. I subject myself to the people of Zimbabwe for guidance and direction given the changed circumstances before us.

I shall use this opportunity to discuss the current political situation; and to share some thoughts on the options available to us in order to realise our vision for a new Zimbabwe. Our promise for a New Zimbabwe and a New Beginning remains resolutely on track.

Never again shall the people of Zimbabwe be put through the six years of torture, economic chaos and suffering that we have gone through in this struggle for change. We pledge to stop politics from driving millions out of the country in search for economic and personal security.

Mr. Chairman, fellow Zimbabweans, I wish to honour the hundreds of Zimbabweans who died in this struggle. I wish to record the contributions made by millions of people in supporting our struggle. In particular, special tribute must also go to leaders, members and supporters who lost their homes, their businesses, their jobs while in the service of the MDC. Even as we meet today, the dictatorship has intensified the war against the people. I am aware of the thousands who displaced, tortured and maimed in the defence of the struggle.

Tribute must go to the people who are starving needlessly in a country that used to export abundant food throughout Africa. Special recognition must be accorded to all those whose hope for a new Zimbabwe continue to be shattered by torture, hunger and endless physical and psychological oppression.

Mr. Chairman, Congress, ladies and gentlemen, let us not forget the courageous activists and MDC supporters whose stories haven’t been told, and may never be told, because so many journalists were either deported from Zimbabwe or are banished from this country.

I acknowledge those living with HIV/Aids who are forced to watch their health deteriorate because of lack of access to healthcare and to anti-retroviral drugs.

Allow me, Mr. Chairman, to recognize the millions of Zimbabwe who were forced into exile by insecurity at home. Zimbabweans in the Diaspora have been reduced to paupers and work under near-slavery conditions after being forced to flee their homes in order to feed their families or to escape political persecution.

Many survived political violence, repression and state-sponsored denials of food and basic services because of their links to the MDC. Families were displaced and dispersed. Whole farm communities were callously decimated and scattered. We must all thank our living God. You survived, and are still surviving from the acts of a dictatorship that thrives on the human suffering and economic displacement of the people.

Equally, Mr. Chairman, I wish to recognize thousands of our supporters who, from time to time, get discouraged with us as the MDC leadership because of the slow pace of our struggle. I fully understand the frustration. The struggle has taken a longer period than originally anticipated. Your contribution to the struggle is noted and appreciated.

Allow me Congress to note the work done by my colleagues who have chosen not to be with us today, but who pioneered and contributed to the growth of the MDC and this democracy project together with us for many years. We say to you all: Thank you for your contribution to this struggle. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for risking life and limb to try and rebuild Zimbabwe. We have not forgotten that contribution. You taught us valuable lessons.

Mr. Chairman, we meet today, bruised but brimming with confidence and experience. That experience is invaluable to a struggle now in its final phase. Our struggle is a national project. We are a young political party. The majority of our members are young people.

This dictatorship has ruined our young generation. They have been thrown off the line, without jobs; without security; and without freedom. The spirit of 1999 changed the face of Zimbabwean politics forever. Change is an idea no-one can postpone.

2. The consolidation of the struggle

The people of Zimbabwe have maintained a consistent and steady position in the struggle for change. Despite the heavy odds, I feel relieved to note a resolute determination among all of us to confront the dictatorship.

Our liberation influence has expanded significantly countrywide. We drive the main political agenda in Zimbabwe today. The democratic struggle has consolidated itself.

The people have turned their hearts and minds away from tyranny. The people are ready to reclaim their space; to reclaim their sovereignty; to recover their dignity and their rights. I recognise the immense cost of the dictatorship. I recognise the manner in which the dictatorship has destroyed families and dampened the hopes and aspirations of our children.

We have no food. We have no fuel. We have no foreign currency. Electricity is in short supply. Our hospitals and clinics have no staff, no equipment and no drugs. Zimbabwe has no friends. No-one wants to do business with us. There is a huge democratic deficit. Democratic space is now at a premium. There are repressive laws everywhere: POSA, AIPPA, the NGO Bill. Against this adversity, the people have triumphed. We weathered the storm. The regime is on its way out.

3. Organisational challenges – six years of a democratic struggle

Elections:

From the day, we defeated Zanu PF in the referendum; it became clear at home and abroad that Zimbabwe’s struggle for change had taken another course. The regime embarked on a dangerously defensive game, using fear and violence as a survival strategy.

Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF became the village bully, terrorizing their own people, the mothers, their children and their neighbours for political survival. We remain focused on the goal. We never wavered on our objective and our vision. We believed in elections. And, despite the violence and an uneven playing field, we persevered and contested in the June 2000 parliamentary election. We won that election!

The victory in June 2000 sustained the national interest in elections, despite the obvious problems we encountered with that route. As moved closer to the 2002 Presidential election, the political picture showed a nation headed for a precipice.

Mugabe stared defeat in the face. Mugabe relapsed into a defiant mood. Mugabe became a serious liability to the nation. What happened during the run –up to the 2002 Presidential election is now a matter of record? The entire country was plunged into a war

The harassment of MDC activists was intensified, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of innocent people. The state security organs were ordered to overrun the country, targeting the MDC and white Zimbabweans.

Commercial agriculture was wiped off our economy. Freedom of movement was heavily curtailed. When these efforts failed to arrest the growing tide against the dictatorship, our own generals in the army, the air force, the CIO, the police and the prison services were romped in to threaten the people.

The state media and other national institutions were unleashed onto the people. Even that, as you know, had a limited effect forcing Mugabe to throw in his last card: I was arrested and charged with treason! Still, that did not work. Mugabe lost the election.

The extent of blatant errors and irregularities clearly indicates a gross manipulation of the voters roll, and an attempted cover-up of the massive rigging that was widespread at the time of the elections. There has been material non-compliance with the provisions of the law, followed by a policy calculated to hinder and protract any eventual trial on the issues. From all available records, Robert Mugabe is not the lawful President of Zimbabwe. I know that. You know it. Everybody knows it.

Dialogue

Concerned about Zimbabwe’s growing exposure, our neighbours, the church and some Zimbabweans launched a number of initiatives to persuade Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF to show patriotism and accept inter-party dialogue as a way forward.

What informed the party at the time was the need to navigate the hostile political environment and to seek an amicable resolution of the deepening political crisis. We encouraged all these efforts because of our wish to see an environment favourable for free political activity and for advancing the search for a lasting solution to the crisis.

South Africa, Nigeria and the entire SADC region feared the consequences of an intransigent Mugabe to international relations. We agreed on an agenda.

We were ready to move ahead. But Mugabe refused to listen, putting pre-conditions and other road-blocks to this effort. Mugabe maintained that despite well-grounded questions around his legitimacy, the people must accept him. The people refused to do so, compounding an already precarious situation that has led Zimbabwe into a basket of failed states.

Late in December 2002, there were secret moves to break the political impasse. These moves were spearheaded by some foreign governments, some in the business community and elements in Zanu PF and the military. The plan collapsed. Those promoting the plan were insincere. They harboured sinister motives and were duly exposed.

In March 2003, the Anglican Church – through Archbishop Ndungane of Cape Town – launched its own initiative to persuade Mugabe to see reason. We assisted the church and supported the proposal.

But once again, Mugabe and Zanu PF refused to co-operate. The Church applied its mind to this question. Three prominent bishops launched a separate plan to get Mugabe, Zanu PF and the MDC to a negotiating table. We were asked to present issues for a comprehensive agenda. But, once again, Mugabe and Zanu PF refused to listen.

After the June 2003 mass action – a time when the people shut down the country for five days – Mugabe, working with President Mbeki, revived the dialogue. Former Secretary General Welshman Ncube and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa began to explore a possible solution through the Constitutional Amendment route. That effort was once again stalled by Zanu PF and Mugabe. The process took us nowhere. Instead, I was arrested and charged with treason, once more.

We maintained the pressure. We reached out to SADC. Our diplomatic offensive led SADC to adopt a comprehensive set of electoral management guidelines in an attempt to correct elections flaws and anomalies.

Mugabe accepted the regional guidelines, but as expected refused to implement them. He preferred piece-meal amendments to the existing framework, thus creating fresh problems for Zimbabwe. You all witnessed the farce that took place in March 2005. The regime opted for open rigging. As I said before, the entire electoral management system has since been hopelessly militarised and compromised. Your voice, as Mugabe put it in 2002, does not matter. He said then that he derives his mandate from the liberation struggle. He wants to privatise that struggle. Yet, that struggle was our struggle. It was a national project. We all participated in it.

After the March 2005 elections, I launched a separate initiative to address the national crisis. I took Zimbabwe’s case to the African Union and agreed with Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and other African leaders to kick start the Zimbabwe case. The AU appointed former Mozambican President Joachim Chissano to mediate. The initiative was scuttled by, once again, by none other than Mugabe himself.

Thereafter, prospects for a negotiated settlement were, once again, scuttled. Zanu PF split into various factions. Zimbabwe is in a mess today all because of Mugabe’s succession plan. In summary, elections have been a major disappointment. The result is pre-determined. Confidence in the electoral process has diminished. Elections, under the current set-up and conducted by the military, breed dangerous outcomes. Elections cannot be sole arena of our struggle.

The courts

After our victory was openly stolen in June 2000, we challenged the results in 39 constituencies. Mugabe immediately decreed, through a Statutory Instrument, that such challenges were unnecessary. The decree was overturned by the High Court. Mugabe then decided on a counter plan. He subverted the judiciary, hounding out the Chief Justice, forcing senior judges either to leave the bench or to emigrate and appointed a new set of judicial officers, some of whom were known to have benefited from his patronage or were openly partisan.

Our legal challenges gathered dust for five years. To this day, the issues remain unattended to, including my own Presidential challenge. Out of the few that were heard, the courts set aside 10. Given the margin from the June 2000 results, the MDC won that election. If all the cases were heard in the courts, our victory margin was set to rise substantially.

The Presidential election challenge is particularly enlightening. Mugabe knows he lost that election. It took us 18 months and a number of court applications to have the matter set down for a hearing. The initial hearing took just three days, but the judge sat on the case for seven months before passing judgement. That judgement, again, was incomplete – without reasons. We could not appeal because of that limitation.

We took the matter to the Supreme Court. Still nothing came out of it. The judge quickly delivered his reasons, after a two-year delay!

The regime has targeted, for harassment, our mayors and councillors. These matters have ended up in the courts. Still no relief could be secured as the same courts refused to consider the matters as urgent, or the regime simply defied the various rulings.

Engineer Elias Mudzuri, the Executive Mayor of Harare, has matters still pending at the courts. Misheck Shoko, the Executive Mayor of Chitungwiza, is still waiting for justice. The same judicial attitude haunts Executive Mayor Kagurabadza, of Mutare.

In summary, given these experiences, the courts or the legislative route – as presently constituted -- are unsuitable avenues for relief.

Resistance

The MDC and its civil society partners have, during the past six years, embarked on various activities to register our discontent with the state of affairs in this country. Mass action is a universal democratic right. The people are entitled to express themselves and to share their views on the way they are governed. Our efforts to demonstrate our position were heavily discouraged through brutal responses, arrests and violence. Our experience shows that only a sustained and concerted effort by all Zimbabweans shall deliver a desired result. This is an issue which open to debate and discussion at this Congress and, I believe, a way forward shall be adopted. We shall deal with this question, once and for all.

Rarely in the history of mankind have people faced such brutality while retaining such gracious exuberance. Together we have travelled a very difficult road to achieve democratic change. I am encouraged by your determination and pledge to take up the challenge and lead from the front. Your resilience to reclaim your rights has shaken Mugabe’s corridors of power. In the final phase the call is made to you once again to intensify the peaceful democratic resistance to the current tyranny.

I call upon you once again to heed the calls coming from your leadership for a sustained cold season of peaceful democratic resistance. The phase that we have entered calls upon every one of us to endure the pain and resolutely fight for freedom. In summary, our experience shows us that while we managed to shake the regime with action in March 2003 and in June 2003, we did not move sufficiently to cause meaningful democratic change in our society. The options open to us are very clear: we need a short, sharp programme of action to free ourselves.

International solidarity

The world is watching and the world is with us. The world is ready to welcome a new Zimbabwe back into the family of nations. Today, Zimbabwe is an outcast, because Zanu PF has made us an outcast. No nation can respect a regime that starves its own people.

The MDC has enjoyed tremendous goodwill internationally. We are accepted in Africa and elsewhere as the main political drivers in Zimbabwe. But international support can only derive its meaning from our action here at home.

Our experience reminds us of our own obligations, our own responsibility towards our nation and our future. We have to rely, first and foremost, on our own capacity, our own determination and our own muscle to take on Mugabe and Zanu PF. Work must begin at home, after this Congress.

The internal dimension

Internally, we faced serious challenges as your leadership. Many of our problems were externally induced and designed to break up the party. We remained together, despite glaring contradictions, differences in strategy and tactics and disagreements influenced by separate ideological persuasions.

From our experience, I think we must look critically at where we are today, what we did and how we hope to achieve our ultimate goal. I reflected on our systems, our style of leadership and management and on the way forward. Leadership by consensus, unless it is carefully managed, leads to a leadership without a leader. In a struggle like ours that can be dangerous and counter-productive.

After the fall out of October 12, 2005, my colleagues proceeded to file papers in the High Court seeking to depose me as the President of the MDC. Congress shall be asked to consider this issue in greater detail in order for us to use the experience positively in future.

Before I move on to another issues, let me say I am happy to note that we have dealt with this temporary diversion by surrendering the party back to you today. You are the rightful owners of the MDC. The choice is up to you. You have to take corrective measures and sort out the leadership squabbles at the top. I wish to thank you for your guidance and direction.

4. Building a new Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe remains a great country and for all the problems we are experiencing, we remain a remarkable example of national discipline, principle and hope in Africa. In charting the road map to legitimacy, our Congress shall be guided by a rallying call for a new Zimbabwe and a new nation – a nation free of violence.

Given the right leadership, policies and management, Zimbabwe under an MDC leadership shall soon assume its place in Africa as a beacon of hope and promise for all Africans. Congress shall be expected to chart out the road map to Zimbabwe’s legitimacy. We must push for radical changes to the political and economic fortunes of this country as a matter of urgency.

Our road map to a New Zimbabwe

Our road map to a new society is pillared on four programme areas:

The Political Dimension.

We are against piece-meal approaches to the search for a lasting solution to the national crisis. The crisis has deepened to a point where a national resolve to take it on, once and for all, must be muscled up as a matter of urgency.

Congress must take on this challenge, show leadership and assist the people to determine and realize their own vision and to shape their own destiny.

Congress must seize this opportunity and swear to organize and rally the people for change.

The people demand a new, democratic and people-driven Constitution that guarantees the formation of an accountable and caring government. We maintain our demand for a transitional arrangement to oversee a full and comprehensive return to democracy in Zimbabwe.

A transition is necessary to enable Zimbabweans to craft a constitutional framework acceptable to all stakeholders. It is imperative to generate confidence of the people before a lasting solution to the current national crisis can be realized. A transitional process is necessary to attend to all electoral and governance matters to pave the way for a genuinely free and fair election.

Reconstruction Agenda

We will confront the current perennial economic crisis through our comprehensive RESTART programme, targeting all sectors of our economy and society.

The economy will be strengthened through policy thrusts that seek to stabilise and strengthen our fiscal, monetary and exchange rate policies. A strong economy will attract investment, expand the industrial sector, create more jobs and eradicate poverty.

Labour and the business sector will play a critical role in this exercise. We will work very closely with labour and business to establish a social contract to set a living wage, sustainable prices and keep inflation under control.

Domestic business confidence will be restored and we will provide for the creation of congenial conditions for expansion. In line with our solidarity and social justice values we will address the pressing social needs of the population and restore the availability and affordability of food and other basic necessities.

We will revive the agricultural sector to eliminate food shortages. Agricultural support services will be strengthened and land distribution will be on an equitable basis in the context of the rule of law.

A healthy and literate nation is a major pre-requisite for socio-economic recovery and development and in our strategy the health and education sectors will receive special attention. We will revive, adequately staff, and stock all our clinics, hospitals and schools. In this regard domestic and international resources will be mobilized to restore and enhance the levels of service required in health and education to confront HIV/Aids and the alarming school drop out rate.

The moral fibre of the nation has been weakened by state-supported corruption and therefore our programme will target corruption as a cancer that together with misrule has destroyed the nation. We will destroy corruption and the entire patronage system that feeds it and institute an open consultative process and support between the government and the private sector as the basis for collective advance.

National healing

We live in fractured society. We are divided across race, ethnicity and politics. The dictator loves these divisions. The dictator’s tactic is to divide in order to rule.

Brother and brother do not talk to each other. In some villages, mother and son do not see eye to eye. As we struggle incessantly against the tyranny, the regime is imprinting a destructive legacy among the people.

The nation is highly polarised and tension has reached fever pitch level. The language of hatred has become a form of currency passed around with the blessing of the regime. Divisions are deliberately created and exacerbated in a shameless strategy of divide and rule.

A sizeable section of our community, a portion of our nation has been ordered to hate, often in cases of reverse racial discrimination. The MDC shall put a stop to all this. A Zimbabwean is a Zimbabwean.

Skin colour, tribe, history, ancestry, sex and residential location shall not be used to disadvantage any Zimbabwean. Our society has been divided along ethnic and political lines in the cities and in the villages. Entire ethnic groups and communities have been targeted for collective punishment.

A Zimbabwean must feel safe, secure and at home. Equally, a foreigner in Zimbabwe shall have access to universal rights and privileges accorded to all visitors, all investors, all permanent and all international guests and travellers.

An MDC government will not allow the language of hate and common barbarism to become the medium of _expression of the powerful. We will strive to achieve a united nation that celebrates the richness of its diversity.

Therefore the challenge we face, together with the entire democratic movement, is to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive process of national healing and tolerance. We must start to put up a foundation and building blocks for a society in which diversity and differences are seen as sources of strength.

In a New Zimbabwe we shall implement strategies to heal the wounds of past national strife. The state will not be used as an instrument of subjugation. It will be a caring and compassionate state that protects the weak to become strong and nourishes the strong so that they can thrive for the common benefit of the nation.

Zimbabwe needs everybody, regardless of one’s ancestry. We are one people. Our dignity, national pride and fundamental freedoms need to be respected.

We shall never allow the bitterness of the past to be a launching pad for a fresh wave of vengeance and vindictiveness in the future. The rule of law, administered by an independent judiciary shall be the only acceptable basis for people’s rights and other entitlements. Democracy, democratic processes and principles will be the guiding principles in the management of all public affairs.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure these issues shall dominate Congress. The policies and programmes before you must be scrutinized to the letter as they shall form the basic groundwork for a new society.

International Relations

Given the damage to Zimbabwe’s external image, the main thrust of our foreign policy in the short term seeks to reclaim the country’s position in the international community. Our major concern centres on the crisis of legitimacy and the need to re-establish Zimbabwe’s credibility, faith and trustworthiness in SADC, in Africa and internationally.

The MDC’s foreign policy begins and ends at home. What we seek to do elsewhere must reflect on our behaviour at home. The manner in which we address our national interest, attend to our own issues at home, our governance systems and our national agenda define our foreign policy.

Our foreign policy is an extension of our domestic policy in that it is anchored on the needs and aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe.

We realise that we are part of a global village and we appreciate the support that we have received from all corners of the globe.

We thank those who have continuously raised their voices and recoiled in horror at the outrage perpetrated by the regime against innocent and defenceless people. They made us understand that we are not alone and confirmed to us that our cause is just and indestructible.

To Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, I want to say thank you for your continued realization that this struggle is your struggle too. Thank for your support.

We appeal to the region, the continent and the entire world to continue piling pressure on the regime.

The people of Zimbabwe need temporary relief before they are afforded an opportunity to survive on their own resources. We therefore appeal to the international community to continue to provide food and relief to the suffering people of Zimbabwe.

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure these issues shall dominate Congress as we formulate strategies to mobilise the people, to rally the nation and to rally international community for meaningful change.

Conclusion

Our political renewal process and leadership re-generation programmes promise a strong, united force with sufficient numbers and sufficient determination to confront the dictatorship in 2006.

May I, Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, take this opportunity to lay on the table, the National Council report to Congress, for your deliberations?

I thank you,

Morgan Tsvangirai