LONDON -- Prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai drew load cheers and applause from a meeting of African ambassadors based in London when he addressed them at the Zimababwe Embassy on Tuesday 23 June. (Pictured: PM Tsvangirai addressing African Diplomatic Corps in London, sitting on his left is Zimbabwes ambassador to Britain, Gabriel Machniga.The meeting was hosted by Harare’s ambassador to Britain, Gabriel Machinga.
This alone showed how much things had changed in relations between Zanu (PF)
and the MDC. Machinga, a former MP and Zanu (PF)stalwart, treated the PM with
courtesy and respect and the two appeared to get on well.
But is was the Prime Minister’s speech that moved the audience, and if anyone had come expecting a bland PR exercise that ignored real problems in the transitional deal between the two parties, Tsvangirai was not in the mood to paper over problems.
“Zimbabwe needs a viable econony, we must open the media, reform the security forces, and agriculture must again be productive,” he said, adding that he was still not done improving conditions for teachers and nurses, refurbishing schools and pumping clean water through the taps.
But, he said, there was no going back and the MDC remained committed to the deal.
“Zimbabwe is changing for the better,” he said, “but we still have a long way to go.
“There are times when President Mugabe and I disagree deeply on things, but we work through them, and I believe we will continue to do this,” he said.
While the Prime Minister said he wanted to see Europe and the United States reengaging with Zimbabwe, “we do have an agenda now for that.” He said that a number of meetings were schedules, especially with the European Union, in which concerns would be raised and dealt with.
In response to a question about the chance of white farmers returning to the land, Tsvangirai said there was no place for tribe or colour in the new Zimbabwe.
“I don’t want to hear about black farmers, white farmers, yellow farmers,” he said. “I want productive farmers and I want food for the people.”
He said that while no one — not even the farmers — had disagreed on the need for land reform, it was no good when the exercise, “leaves the country starving,” and he repeated his determination to restart commercial agriculture.
The ambassadors who included heads of mission from most Sadc countries plus
the majority of West and East African nations, gave loud applause and, when the speech was done, they queued to talk with the Prime Minister and ambassador Machinga.
In a vote of thanks offered by the Dean of the African Diplomatic Corps, Botswana high commissioner Roy Blackbeard said that the address had been “enormously helpful” in bringing fresh information to the envoys.
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