Tsvangirai: MDC to boycott senate

Tsvangirai: MDC to boycott senate

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MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi issued a statement after a national council meeting declaring that the party will be participating in the senate elections next month.

Moments earlier, Morgan Tsvangirai had taken a different view at a press conference in Harare where he issued the following statement:

By Morgan Tsvangirai

THE MDC National Council met today in Harare to consider the party’s position in the proposed Senate elections.

After intense debate and discussion, whereupon the guiding question was whether we compromise with or take on the Zanu PF dictatorship in the ongoing struggle for democratic change, the council resolved to stay out of the Zanu PF Senate project.

You will recall that when we decided to contest the Parliamentary election in March this year, we informed the nation that, notwithstanding our serious reservations, we were going ahead but with a heavy heart, under protest.

Our reasons were well grounded. Zanu PF had subverted the spirit of Mauritius and adopted selective aspects of the SADC principles governing the conduct of democratic elections as stipulated by the region.

To this date, nothing has changed.

he electoral management system in Zimbabwe is still a recipe for political disasters. The system breeds illegitimate outcomes and provide for a pre-determined result.

Further, Council noted with dismay that the Senate project is fundamentally flawed in that it does not attend to the demands for a comprehensive resolution of the national crisis.

The national crisis is deepening every day, compounding the humanitarian emergencies in our midst and prolonging the suffering of the Zimbabwean people, needlessly. The establishment of a Senate fails to address the people’s basic needs.

The Senate idea is an expensive project we can ill-afford at a time when millions face starvation; when millions live in a shrinking economy and a hyper inflationary climate; when millions are out of work; when millions yearn for support against the HIV/Aids pandemic.

As a serious political party, we felt that a compromise at this stage runs against our contract with the people.

A compromise with the dictatorship has the effect of confusing our original promise, our message to the people. We strongly believe that the nation needs new Zimbabwe and a new beginning, given the amount of damage before us.

Given our experience in the past six years, Council reaffirmed the party’s new thrust to turn the corner, to draw a line in the sand and to chart a new direction against the dictatorship. We are engaged in a full scale organizational programme to build people power and confidence to take on Zanu PF and the regime.

We shall mount a national crusade against the Senate election as part of a comprehensive mission and a campaign for a people-driven, publicly endorsed national Constitution.

Further, our party structures shall soon review and debate our presence in Parliament, in local government and in future elections to assess the impact and political necessity of such presence in line with the new thrust of building democratic resistance.

Morgan Tsvangirai is President of the Movement for Democratic Change
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