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MDC dismisses Zanu PF's wishful claims
Movement for Democratic Change
August 20, 2010

The MDC's governors-designate are now ready to be sworn in following the vacant positions that have arisen due to the expiry of the terms of office of the illegally-appointed Zanu PF governors. The MDC dismisses the misleading and mischievous report in today's issue of The Herald that the three principals to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) agreed that the appointment of provincial governors be done concurrently with the lifting of restrictive measures.

The MDC's position is that restrictive measures are a bilateral issue between Zanu PF and those who imposed them on grounds of a deficit of good governance on the part of Zanu PF. It has always been our contention that the authorship of restrictive measures is located on the doorstep of Zanu PF.

In the spirit of the GPA, the MDC had pledged to assist Zanu PF in rescuing it from this quagmire. As a gesture of sincerity and in compliance with the GPA, we had chosen to chlorinate Zanu PF. We refuse to be made accountable for Zanu PF's past sins of commission and omission. Zanu PF's primitive tactics of dilly-dallying and pussy footing in implementing the GPA are only assisting in complicating matters.There is no need therefore for the opposition party to grandstand about a fictitious position of the Principals on the two clearly separate and unrelated matters of restrictive measures and provincial governors.

The issue of restrictive measures is a process issue while the issue of governors is a simple event of swearing-in the new governors according to the agreed formula. At a meeting of the principals on 8 June, Mr Mugabe insisted on linking the issue of restrictive measures to provincial governors, a position the MDC President did not agree with as evidenced by his subsequent letter to Mr Mac Maharaj, a member of President Jacob Zuma's facilitation team. It is fortuitous to link the issue of governors, which is a domestic and internal issue which we are in control of; to the issue of restrictive measures which is an exogenous matter which none of the three parties to the GPA has direct control.

For the record, Zanu PF had earlier argued that the issue of governors could not be resolved in the middle of their illegal terms. Now that the terms have expired, they are shifting goal-posts and linking the issue of governors to a separate issue of restrictive measures. The MDC President also wrote to Mr Mugabe alerting him to how he had reneged on an earlier agreement to swear in Hon Roy Bennett once he was acquitted by the courts. Mr Mugabe even publicly announced on CNN that Bennett would be sworn in once he was found innocent by the courts. Hon Bennett remains innocent because the noting of an appeal does not suspend his acquittal. In the same letter, President Tsvangirai reiterated his position that the issue of governors and the issue of restrictive measures were as separate as day and night.

The MDC's provincial governors are ready to be sworn in now that the terms of office of the illegally-appointed governors have come to an end. We expect full compliance with the provisions of the GPA. We urge all parties to the inclusive government to respect their own agreement. Zanu PF cannot be allowed to frontload the issue of restrictive measures at the expense of implementing the GPA in its entirety.

As a party of excellence, we expect compliance by all parties to the recommendations of the SADC troika organ and the SADC summit in Windhoek who called for an immediate resolution of all the outstanding issues within 30 days and an uninterrupted path towards free and fair elections. Most importantly, SADC called for a free and fair election where intimidation and violence play not part and where the result will be credible.

We unequivocally condemn the Zanu PF tactics of waylaying and mugging the expectations of the people of Zimbabwe by prioritising their own issues and concerns at the expense of a holistic approach to the sacred document to which we all appended our signatures.

We are ready to comply with the dictates of SADC. We have always been ready to abide by our own signature in the GPA. We are ready to implement the agreed positions and the agreed formula on the issue of governors. No amount of Zanu PF's grandstanding and quacking will change our resolve to fully implement the GPA so that the inclusive government can begin to transact the business of the people by bringing real change in their lives.

Real change is irreversible and the will of the people of Zimbabwe will triumph over mischief and unbridled political chicanery.

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