Mbeki is not an honest mediator in Zimbabwean crisis - Tsvangirai

Accra, April 22, GNA- Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, on Tuesday said South African President Thabo Mbeki was "not an honest mediator" in the Zimbabwean electoral crisis.

He told journalists in Accra that the MDC was disturbed by the role President Mbeki was playing in undermining the victory of the people of Zimbabwe in the March 29, 2008 elections.

"We are disturbed by his comments regarding the crisis in our country as well as his disinformation campaign during the recent Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) meeting in Mauritius and during the just-ended United Nations Security Council meeting in New York," he said.

President Mbeki was widely reported in the international media to have said that there was no crisis in Zimbabwe, a position the MDC considers to be biased for a neutral mediator to have made. Mr. Tsvangirai said contrary to President Mbeki assertion of the situation in Zimbabwe, 10 people have so far been killed, 500 injured and hospitalized and thousands displaced from their homes. He therefore called on President Mbeki to be bold and take the historic opportunity of the Zimbabwean crisis to side with the people and not with any political party.

Mr. Tsvangirai is in Accra to meet with some the world leaders attending the ongoing United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XII) meeting. He has held separate meetings with President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana and the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.

Mr. Tsvangirai said he told both leaders about the situation in Zimbabwe and the MDC's own position on the issue and received "good counsel" from both leaders on how to resolve the crisis. He reiterated MDC's position on the proposed run-off with President Robert Mugabe, saying, "we wish to restate in front of our African brothers that we will not participate in a stage-managed run-off simply because Robert Mugabe does not want to accept that we won the elections decisively."

Mr. Tsvangirai explained that by law the electoral results should have been declared and verified by all stakeholders before a run-off could be declared, but a runoff was unnecessary in the case where Zanu-PF started to prepare for a run-off when the results had for the past 23 days not be declared.

"In any case, figures we compiled show that we won the presidential election decisively by 50.3 per cent and that is more than the 50 per cent plus one votes required by the constitution for a winner to be declared," he stressed.

He accused Mr. Mugabe of overseeing a carefully planned and orchestrated military plan that had altered the electoral environment and created an environment of fear and intimidation with people being killed.

"Robert Mugabe is a liberation hero on our continent and he must be convinced to respect the wishes and democratic rights of the people of Zimbabwe and make a graceful exit. "We are calling on every village and every city, every ethnic community, every man and woman, every head of state in Africa to stand in defence of the people of Zimbabwe," he said.

Mr. Tsvangirai said the reputation of Africa may suffer seriously if President Mugabe was allowed to undermine the results of a democratic election by refusing to transfer power knowing he had lost the popular support of the people of Zimbabwe.

Asked what he intended to do with President Mugabe if he became president he said: "Nothing, because Mugabe is an important figure in the history of Zimbabwe and Africa and we are aware of that so we intend to maintain that reputation of his heroism."

He debunked assertions that he had stayed out of Zimbabwe for longer than usual because he feared to return home, saying that it was part of his and MDC's strategy for him to do more diplomatic consultations to ensure wide-spread international involvement in the Zimbabwean crisis. "Nobody can stop me from going to Zimbabwe, when I am ready I will return home and safely too," he said.