Sipokisimeni Wa-Tsvangirai deplores the shenanigans by sections within our party, who broke into Sipokisimeni’s briefcase and stole the President of the MDC’s State of the Nation address, and proceeded to substitute it with the version that Sipokisimeni, as a loyal employee of the Office of the President of the MDC, has previously shown on this page. Their version lacked fire, and they had our President reciting old lines from the same advisors that are leaking confidential papers to the press in an effort to suggest that the President must leave office. However, the true State of the Nation address that they stole, is this one: My fellow citizens, I address you in a rented hotel room and not from the office to which you elected me because as usual, the forces that we fight against stole your votes on the day of our catastrophe, July 31, 2013. However, as you will no doubt know, the strength of our resolve will not be shaken by the venues from which we wage the struggle; for if that were the case, we would not have won a plurality of votes in Murambinda, Muzokomba, Chikwaka, Gatsheni. Gwatemba, Dulibadzimu, Kitsiyatota, Mavhuradona, Matusadona, Uzumba, Glen View, Kamativi, Mhangura, Gwenzi, in fact, at every electoral post in this nation. The State of the Nation is that our politics has become toxic, and is killing our economy, is killing our aspirations, is killing our future generations. Literally and figuratively. We reject without reservation this view of our politics as an unending fiefdom ruled by a certain Robert Mugabe, and assert instead that our political life should be directed toward solving the day to day problems that we as a nation now face. And at the moment, our major problem is Robert Mugabe. If we are all agreed at the definition of the problem, the necessary step is to agree on what to do about it. A political solution is preferable to a desperate one, or to waiting for divine intervention. Do we, as a nation, wait for Mugabe to die before we can be rid of this scourge? As rumours these past few weeks will attest, there are many among us that have placed their hopes on this outcome. That is not how a nation should run itself. Now, as a nation of laws, we cannot advocate armed struggle, because innocent people will die. We cannot advocate violent overthrow, because again, many innocents will die. And we do not. We continue to believe that the government we have is illegitimate, brought about by an illegitimate election, and nothing short of their wholesale removal is acceptable. As experience has shown, the international community will not come to our aid. None but ourselves will solve our problems. We believe that there is an obligation upon those in government to bring about the social advancement of everyone, and that this is the promise that can be the only justification for the people not taking matters into their own hands. We believe that the government of Robert Mugabe, which went to such great lengths to steal our victory, owes itself and us a duty to ensure that we do not in fact end up taking matters into our own hands. We believe that public opinion should shape the content of our public policy, and in this regard, note that the preponderance of public opinion holds that Robert Mugabe has either overstayed in his position or rigged his way back into office. The current jostling for positions between one Emmerson Munangagwa and Joyce Mujuru attests to the fact even within Zanu PF, accepted opinion holds that it is time for change. Our own beliefs aside, the common denominator here is obvious, the President should not be in office any longer, but should be resting somewhere and finding the sleep that seems to catch up with him only when he attends important meetings, to the embarrassment of all but the surprise of none. We believe that just because a political party can steal an election doesn’t mean that it ought to steal one. We believe that just because a government can rob the Treasury dry does not mean that it ought to rob the treasury dry. We believe that just because a small coterie of used-to-be-revolutionaries can steal our entire diamond wealth does not mean that they ought to. The wisdom of this is obvious. All Zimbabweans acting in concert and aggrieved by the Zanu PF kleptocracy can conceivably march on the next Zanu PF conference and arrest the whole lot of them or, again possible, hang them. This has happened elsewhere on our continent. But, just because we can, does not mean that we ought to, and certainly not that we will. We believe that Zanu PF owes itself the duty to avoid forcing the people of Zimbabwe to take these measures. We believe that running our country to the ground is Zanu PF’s unstated but de facto policy. We believe that they do not care, because their children’s futures are not invested in this country, having stashed billions in overseas havens and sent their children abroad for this purpose. We believe therefore that they do not care. We believe, as Zimbabweans, that because we care about our country, they need to just stop. I thank you. Morgan Tsvangirai MDC President
Posted on: Sun, 26 Jan 2014 13:40:21 +0000
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