The People Will Win

 At that time, none of us imagined that it would take nearly a
decade to bring about the change we all desired.At our congress in March 2006, we set out a roadmap to democracy in which we
stated that we would launch a democratic resistance programme intended to
bring Robert Mugabe to the negotiating table in order for us to unlock this
crisis. The people were victorious in this regard, and on 28 March 2007 SADC
called for an extraordinary summit at which they mandated President Mbeki of
South Africa to mediate between ZANU (PF) and the MDC. The resultant
dialogue has led to many positive developments, particularly reforms in POSA
(the Public Order and Security Act), AIPPA (the Access to Information and
Protection of Privacy Act), and the Broadcasting Sevices Act.Despite Mugabe’s insincerity in this process, we have renewed hope that
elections due in March 2008 will provide Zimbabweans with another
opportunity to elect a new administration to usher in a completely new
dispensation in terms of general governance, public welfare and democracy.To this end the MDC policy council, comprising the leadership of the
movement in Zimbabwe, assisted by many friends and colleagues all over the
world, has been working on a comprehensive revision of our economic and
social policies since our second congress in March 2006.This document summarizes the findings of the council and its views on what
needs to be done to stabilize the economy and to bring about reconstruction
and development as well as a complete restructuring of our economic and
social systems. We like to refer to this programme as our New Zimbabwe
campaign.Since independence in 1980 the government of the day has failed to bring the
individual freedoms and opportunities that had been denied the majority for
the previous century. After an encouraging start, our newly elected
government abandoned its early idealism and principles and set out on a
journey that has destroyed the economy, devalued our currency, and made us
the laughing stock of the region.We face a daunting task. When the people put their trust in us in March
2008, we will take over the reigns of government in April, and we will have
to deal with the situation that is our collective legacy of 28 years of
independence and misgovernment.Our infrastructure is degraded, our factories are silent, our farms
destroyed and abandoned. We have accumulated debt that is nearly two times
our total economic output, and our export earnings will not pay for our
essential needs, let alone the prerequisites of development and
reconstruction.We still have friends in the world economy, and in the region, and with
their assistance we will be able to halt inflation, bring back jobs we have
lost and restore our nation’s dignity.This will take hard work, dedication and commitment on the part of all
Zimbabweans. We in the MDC want people to know, in advance of the elections,
what we will do with their mandate in all areas of our national life. That
is what is contained in this document. It sets out our vision of the way
forward, how we will achieve those goals and ambitions, and what we will do
to make our vision of the future a reality. For our part we pledge that the
MDC will pursue these stated goals with all the energies and capacity we
have. We will do so with integrity and in a transparent manner that will
allow all Zimbabweans the opportunity to participate and comment on our
efforts and policies. I have no doubt in my mind that together we will
succeed.