Adressing more than 7,000 supporters in Gweru town, about 220
kilometres (140 miles) south of the capital Harare, Tsvangirai appealed
to the international community to help the crisis-blighted nation and
accept its citizens’ right to chose their own government.
"The international community should help us but accept that Zimbabweans
have a right to choose and they have decided that the inclusive
government is the only way out," he said at celebrations for the 10th
anniversary of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party.
"Please support us," he said, adding that President Robert Mugabe and
Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, who heads an MDC splinter
faction, were committed to making the transitional power-sharing
government work.
He told his supporters, including ministers and parliamentarians that
the MDC would not be "swallowed" up by Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party.
"MDC will never be swallowed. Instead, it will swallow," Tsvangirai boasted amid cheers by his supporters.
Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s long-time rival, took office as prime minister on
February 11. Cabinet ministers were sworn in two days later to complete
the process of forming a unity government that has to haul the nation
out of crippling political and economic crises.
Schools in Zimbabwe are shut, its economy lies shattered after 29 years
of Mugabe rule and its healthcare system is struggling to cope with a
cholera epidemic that has claimed more than 3,750 lives.
In July, the country’s inflation rate hit an unprecedented 231 million
percent and most essential civil servants, including teachers, nurses
and doctors have been on strike since last year over poor pay.
"This nation needs national healing. It is now time to say let’s
forgive those who have trespassed against us. If there is no national
healing, there is no progress. We should heal the nation, let’s us
reconcile as a nation," the MDC leader said.
He said the new government should restore people’s freedom, free
political detainees, stabilise the economy and resolve a devastating
humanitarian crisis.
"Things were bad, there is nothing there (in government coffers). We
will borrow because the situation is dire," the prime minister said.
Tsvangirai said on Friday that it could take up to five billion dollars to get the Zimbabwe economy back on track.
On political detainees, he said: "I want to assure you that this
government will lose face if it continues detaining them. We are very
concerned about that."
He called for the release of one of his party’s choices for a
ministerial post, Roy Bennett, and about 30 other political and rights
activists held in jail since last year.
Bennett, a white farmer, has been detained since his arrest on February 13.
A Zimbabwe court said it would this week rule on terror charges against him.
Bennett, the MDC’s treasurer and its pick to become deputy agriculture
minister, has appeared in court on charges of illegal possession of
arms for purposes of committing banditry, insurgency and terrorism.
A top UN assessment team is currently in Zimbabwe to discuss with
Mugabe, Tsvangirai, UN officials, and government and non-governmental
organisations, the humanitarian crisis in the southern African country.
(AFP)
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