Ladies and Gentlemen,

Firstly, I would like to thank the Government of Botswana for allowing me to stay in their country during this difficult time. As I will highlight later, this does not come without a cost to their country and therefore their hospitality is especially appreciated.

Secondly, as all of you here know, the situation in Zimbabwe, particularly from the humanitarian perspective, is now worse than at anytime in our country’s history. The fact that this situation is being publicized around the world is of the utmost importance to Zimbabweans and is largely a result of the stories printed and broadcast by yourselves, your colleagues and your organizations, and I would like to thank you for your courage and dedication.

Ladies and Gentlemen, in increasingly desperate attempts to hang on to power, the Mugabe regime has imposed the worst kind of sanctions upon the people of Zimbabwe. They have deprived our citizens of their most fundamental rights and, through their political and economic mismanagement, they have turned Zimbabwe into a country where poverty and disease thrive and people die.

Cholera is now rife throughout the country, starvation stalks almost every Zimbabwean family and education and healthcare now exist only for the elite.

The cholera epidemic, which should be an easily treatable disease is infecting people and taking lives in ever greater numbers. The aid agencies are doing their best to cope with this tidal wave of humanitarian suffering but, as the rains continue in Zimbabwe, they are in danger of being overwhelmed. Only if we simultaneously begin to address the causes and the effects of this disaster will it be possible for us to reduce the pandemic to manageable proportions.

Unfortunately, Zanu PF’s insistence on removing the responsibility for water delivery from the local authorities is perpetuating this crisis. Harare is the epicentre of the cholera epidemic and, if the city council was to have control of the water reticulation system and its refurbishment returned to it, then the MDC already has pledges to cover the US$30 million required to undertake this project that will end the threat from cholera in the capital city.

Zanu PF has shown itself not to be able to manage donor funding responsibly or impartially which means that this finance is only available to the authority that has a direct mandate from the people and that is the MDC-controlled, Harare City Council.

If Zanu Pf truly cared about the welfare of the people, they would immediately undertake this action and allow the city council to assume its role of providing adequate services to the residents. This is a model that could easily be duplicated throughout the country.

The MDC has already proved that this model can work. At the beginning of this agricultural season, we undertook a countrywide seed distribution programme to mitigate the effects of the regime’s failed agricultural policy. The success of this distribution is already, quite literally, bearing fruit and as a result the MDC will be able to undertake a mid-season seed distribution that will be double the size of the previous distribution and benefit 100 thousand families. This is what can be achieved when a responsible political party puts the welfare of the people first and is thus able to capitalize on the goodwill that exists in the international community.

For this reason, and as a result of the delays in implementing the Global Political agreement which was signed on September 15th, 2008, the MDC will now work with all United Nations Agencies and NGOs operating within Zimbabwe to add value to, and increase, their current programmes.

This is of particular importance when it comes to food distribution. While significant, our seed distribution will not avert nationwide food shortages in the coming months. The MDC is able to mobilize enough food relief to help Zimbabweans through this crisis, but only if such aid is going to be distributed to the most needy in a free, non-partisan manner. To this end, we will also be working with partners in Zimbabwe on the distribution mechanisms for this aid to ensure that the international community has the assurances it needs to donate the food that our people need.

Ladies and Gentlemen, when we signed the Global Political Agreement (GPA) we believed that we would be undertaking these measures from within an inclusive government. But a partnership can only be formed when there are two willing partners and the Mugabe regime has shown itself to be unwilling to put the welfare of Zimbabwe and its people first.

The MDC can only enter into an agreement that enables us to participate as an equal partner in order that we can contribute to solving the Zimbabwe crisis. This is the mandate we have from the people.

Three months after signing the GPA we have to evaluate why there is no agreement? As an act of the MDC’s good faith, we allowed Mugabe to be President in a coalition government. We are saddened by the fact that he is still trying to stay in power at all costs and reduce MDC to a junior partner in the new government. Let me remind you that at the moment, Zimbabwe has no government. The previous government is refusing to leave or share office despite losing the March 29th elections and despite the signing of the GPA. Mugabe himself called his last cabinet the worst in the country’s history – and yet he has retained these incompetent ministers who are overseeing the humanitarian catastrophe that is unfolding in Zimbabwe today.

Throughout the negotiation process, the MDC has shown patience, political maturity and willingness to make significant concessions to create a government that can begin to address the suffering of the people. In this we have constantly been rebuffed by Zanu PF, and the region itself has often been silent where their transgressions are concerned.

The Mugabe regime has willfully and repeatedly broken the letter and the spirit of this agreement and the Memorandum of Understanding that led to this agreement, through both procedural violations and the continued persecution of innocent Zimbabweans.

In the past two months, more than 42 members of the MDC and civil society have been abducted and their whereabouts are still unknown.

The regime is conducting a deliberate and targeted national terror campaign to undermine the MDC’s support within Zimbabwe and the work of the pro-democracy and human rights organizations.

This situation can no longer continue. The MDC can no longer sit at the same negotiating table with a party that is abducting our members, and other innocent civilians, and refusing to produce any of them before a court of law.

Therefore, if these abductions do not cease immediately, and if all the abductees are not released or charged in a court of law by January 1st 2009, I will be asking the MDC’s National Council to pass a resolution to suspend all negotiations and contact with Zanu PF. There can be no meaningful talks while a campaign of terror is being waged against our people.

There is an increasing sense of urgency surrounding the resolution of the Zimbabwe crisis. Not only is the death toll through disease, hunger, poverty and oppression rising every day, but Zimbabweans themselves are beginning to feel that the hope they invested in the Global Political Agreement will never mature into tangible benefits.

The people of Zimbabwe cannot be expected to continue living under such appalling conditions indefinitely. Therefore, this negotiation process must now be confined to a specific timeframe in which all the outstanding issues are addressed, including, the appointment of Provincial governors, the composition and constitution of the National
Security Council, and equity in the allocation of key ministries. If this cannot be achieved then  internationally supervised presidential election must be conducted in an environment that is conducive to a free and fair poll.

A minor matter in terms of the suffering of our people, but a significant matter when it prevents me from being with them in their time of need is my passport. I have been waiting for six months now for a simple travel document that is my constitutional right. This matter has also become a symbol of Zanu PF’s lack of good faith in the
negotiating process and it must be addressed now.

In respect to all these issues, I will be calling on SADC and the African Union as the guarantors of this Global Political Agreement, to ensure that these conditions are met in order to alleviate the suffering of the Zimbabwean people in the shortest possible time.

The regime has also been making baseless and ludicrous allegations that the MDC is training armed insurgents in Botswana. Let me state that the MDC is not conducting military training camps in Botswana or any other country as this would be contrary to the values and objectives of the MDC. In fact the Zimbabwe parliament is already debating a motion to  condemn Zanu PF for these baseless allegations. Therefore, I welcome the statement by South Africa‘s President Motlanthe who this week stated there was no foundation to these allegations. I also thank him for taking the regional lead to address the humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe.

However, I encourage SADC to become more actively involved in finding a solution to our crisis once and for all. There is nothing to be gained from trying to push the MDC into an agreement just for the sake of removing Zimbabwe from the SADC agenda. The MDC can only enter a new government when our support from the people translates to substantial gains for them in terms of democracy, freedom and economic growth.

We are told that SADC is the key to resolving the Zimbabwe crisis but why then is that key not opening the door to a more democratic dispensation in our country?

SADC needs to ask itself if resolving the Zimbabwe crisis requires them to work more closely with the African Union and the United Nations? After all, this negotiation process was mandated to SADC by the AU and therefore we ask that SADC makes a formal report to the African body on the state of the negotiations in general and the
outcome of the November 9th summit in particular.

In conclusion, I would like to address the people of Zimbabwe.

You, the people of Zimbabwe are enduring a heroic struggle with peaceful resolve.

You are enduring hunger and disease. You are enduring the regime’s betrayal and broken promises. The world marvels at your bravery in the face of such hardship and oppression.

Mugabe and his regime were convinced that they would defeat you by now. They thought that by declaring war on the people, by imposing the worst kind of sanctions on all of us, that we would abandon our struggle and our dreams. They were wrong.

I know that our belief in our right to live in a Zimbabwe that can provide us with freedom, food, jobs, education and health care is stronger than the hate and maliciousness that drives those few who continue to cling to power so desperately and regardless of the cost to our country.

I salute the health workers you have been on the frontline of the war against cholera despite working under appalling conditions for very little pay. In fact, all our civil servants, who continue to do their jobs regardless of the meager salaries and poor working conditions need our respect and gratitude.

I  know that the vast majority of Zanu PF members are truly patriotic and only want what is best for Zimbabwe and are prepared to work with us to create a New Zimbabwe and a New Beginning.

I know that the majority of personnel in our security forces have genuine grievances about their conditions of service and they do not want to be used as a tool of oppression but instead look forward to the day when they can be the means of our protection.

I know that this is our darkest hour and that the dawn is not far away. People of Zimbabwe, the MDC will never forsake the mandate that you gave us to deliver the peaceful, democratic change that you desire.

I thank you.

(Source: by email)