DEAR EDITOR—Effective progress can only be home–conceived, home–grown and home–led. The opposition's agenda has shown itself to be neither locally generated nor owned and its definition completely and palpably driven by external financial, political and technical assistance.
The MDC-T has failed dismally and repeatedly to demonstrate to us that a firewall exists, especially on programme decision making and policy direction, between them and their backers.
It is time they take stock of themselves, discard their naked ambitions and remove ill-advice, which we can see from miles away, and put Zimbabwe's interests firmly at the fore.
Nevertheless, it is the magnanimity of the rightly elected president of Zimbabwe, by due process of the constitutional requirements of the land, that we should be commending now, and praying the opposition reciprocates, for seeking a common negotiated solution to the political malaise and economic quagmire we find ourselves amidst.
What the country clearly needs now is engineering and consolidation of sustainable democratic peace through effective dialogue processes within the nation.
Let me here and now commend the MDC-Mutambara for recognizing the President and more importantly, the discerning need to engage him as the legitimate executive of our country.
We can only hope that their counterparts recognize this urgent need to not only come to the table, but to do so with independence of thought and judgment that has eluded their campaign thus far. We urge them to sign the MoU now - time for vacillation and prevarication they do not have, and Zimbabwe itself cannot afford it.
These talks represent for them now, the primary and perhaps only alternative means through which their objective of pluriform democracy is achieved, having abstained from the process of the month gone. This process of dialogue should construct the effective practice of democracy, that is distinctly African and original, internationally recognized as indeed the process to create it has been by the Sadc, the AU and the UN and is paramount and divorced from the Western influences and cajoling that have characterized the opposition and its leaders' modus operandi so far.
Our common values, goals and destinies demand that we earnestly innovate, address our differences, refine and re-define our objectives and embark on the reconstructive journey now rather than later.
We have all lost more than we can afford to already-we can afford to lose no more. Progress must be made, and it must be seen by all to be made-signing the MoU would stand the MDC-T and its leaders in good stead now and going into the future.
Miles Mudzviti
Yorkshire, England
ARTICLE ATTACHMENTS
READER OPINIONS
makadusa • makadusa@aol.com Subject: Tsvangirai of a small mind...and too big an ego Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:42:21 • To some extent, I agree with n/a that in order to proceed with negotiations, it is of paramount importance that violence is stopped by all parties. I hope you also appreciate that Tsvangirai has been made improptu decisions to boycott, first, the June 27th elections, then the signing of the MoU. In the case of the run-off elections, hardly 48 hrs before pulling out of the elections, he had indicated that no form of violence would deter MDC-T from winning. As for the MoU, he took, even the closest MDC insiders by surprise twice, at the eleventh hour by taking instructions from Jean Ping to change his mind. Clearly, Tsvangirai does not have a head of his own, and he cannot be trusted. He could have boycotted the runoff from the very start instead of pulling out merely 4 days before the election. He could have stood his ground on the MoU from the very beginning, instead of playing games. Make up your mind buddy, and move on. He has lost my support. He has a very small mind and a very big ego....too dangerous to occupy that office. Shame!!
N/a • N/A Subject: Miles Mudzviti Fri, 18 Jul 2008 06:09:34 • Tsvangirai has the same view of things as this writer. Just because Mutambara camp is willing to sign the MoU, the writer has concluded that they recognise Mugabe as the legitimate head of state. So if Tsvangirai signs, then that would imply that he recognises Mugabe as legitimate. No wonder why he is refusing to sign, he thinks the same. This is the same attitude that is talking us nowhere, signing the MoU does not imply anything, it only means that the parties are ready to negotiate. Stop making unnecessary conlcusions that will take us nowhere.
n/a • n/a Subject: n/a Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:27:31 • Mudzviti, I think it's important to ask ZANU PF to first stop violence against MDC supporters and other civilians. Last Sunday my parents and others were force marched to a ZANU PF base where they were harassed and had their bibles torn into pieces for conducting a church service while members of ZANU PF in the area were holding a meeting. This time the local police's hands were not tied, they were able respond quickly as well as warning the thugs. None of them was arrested. As long as ZANU PF is negotiating in bad faith, then the talks won't succeed. Mbeki has proved that he is not an impartial mediator. Hence, MDC's call for a co-mediator. I have studied peace process as well contributed to the Matrix Project on Peace Processes for a leading university, in all the peace processes I studied the first thing the warring parties do before they get into serious talks is to stop fighting/violence. ZANU PF appears to be reluctant to stop its supporters from brutalizing opposition supporters and others. Mbeki appears to be not interested in working with a co-mediator. As a result, the MDC does not have confidence in the process. This is understandable. However, it is not understandable to someone who has no idea about such processes as well as biased towards ZANU PF.
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