Tutu has called on the international community to use the threat of force if necessary to get Mugabe to step down.
"I haven’t changed," he told reporters on Saturday.
"He’s had an innings. It was a good innings and then he messed up. Let him step down."
Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, is accused of
destroying the southern African nation’s once-vibrant economy through
corruption and mismanagement, and of trampling on the human rights of
its people.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is to be prime
minister and Mugabe is to remain president in a unity government
expected to be inaugurated next week.
Tsvangirai, under pressure from regional leaders and eager to address
Zimbabwe’s growing humanitarian crisis, agreed to join the coalition
despite the continued jailing and harassment of dissidents and deep
reservations about Mugabe’s willingness to share power.
Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, said the deal
should be given a chance, "but many are not particularly hopeful".
He said Mugabe would have to be closely monitored to ensure the coalition does not turn out to be a "charade".
Tutu spoke seated next to Kumi Naidoo, an international anti-poverty
advocate in the 18th day of a hunger strike that aimed to put pressure
on Mugabe.
Naidoo also expressed reservations about the unity government’s
prospects for success, but said "now we need to trust the judgment of
the people on the ground in Zimbabwe".
Naidoo called on Mugabe to release political prisoners, allow
humanitarian organisations to work freely, and repeal restrictions on
free speech and assembly.
In Zimbabwe’s capital on Saturday, human rights groups said several
prisoners linked to Tsvangirai’s opposition party were at risk of dying
in jail.
At least three, including a 72-year-old man, were in critical
condition, according to doctors who examined them in their cells on
Friday.
Police are accused of torturing the detainees and have ignored several
court orders demanding that the prisoners be sent to private medical
facilities.
"We might end up with losing lives. We are very concerned. These people
are very sick," said Dr Douglas Gwatidzo, director of the Zimbabwe
Association of Doctors for Human Rights.
On Friday, a judge ended the treason trial of a top Tsvangirai aide,
which was seen as a sign that Mugabe’s party wants the coalition to
work.
Still, scores of opposition members and human rights activists remain
jailed in what observers in and outside Zimbabwe say was a crackdown on
dissidents as power-sharing negotiations faltered.
Tsvangirai reluctantly agreed January 30 to move forward on a unity
government deal without having resolved disputes over Cabinet posts and
the treatment of dissidents.
The agreement has been stalled since September.
Tsvangirai won more votes than Mugabe in the opening round of
presidential balloting last March, but pulled out of a June runoff
because of violence against opposition supporters.
International observers have called the June runoff a sham.
The standoff since the March vote has kept the country’s leaders from
addressing the country’s devastating economic and social collapse.
A cholera epidemic has killed more than 3 300 people and infected 60
000 since August and the world’s highest inflation rate has left
millions of Zimbabweans dependent on international food aid to survive.
– Sapa-AP
Post published in: News