WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2001-08-28 Time: 05:12:30 Posted By: Jan
23/04/2000 – Carte Blanche Ruda Landman
MDC President, Morgan Tsvangirai: “There is a general feeling now that Mugabe
is a national liability, and I think it is a very serious transformation from
one who was a hero of the people to one who has now turned out to be a
villain. It's a very sad turn of events.
“At Independence there was a noble project to fight for national unity,
development and social change. But after 10 years when the ruling party
developed its own character -which is not promoting that national project,
but only for personal gain – people started to divide and contradictions
started to sharpen.
“The President accused him of wanting to be political. That is a very serious
accusation coming from Mugabe, who believes that only he is allowed to be
political. It portrayed a suspicion that Trade Unions might have political
ambitions. It didn't occur to Mugabe that those might be legitimate political
ambitions.”
That was two years ago, and earlier this month Morgan Tsvangirai came to
South Africa to drum up support for his new political party and for his
country.
Ruda: “What changed in between?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “It's become so frustrating to put all your maximum
efforts to resolve some of the problems and, when you don't make progress,
you have to look at alternative ways of achieving those objectives.
“The people have moved they want jobs. They want a government that deals with
poverty; they want a government that deals with corruption; they want a
government that deals first and foremost with their economic plight.”
Ruda: “How do you see the present government?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “I think it's on the way out; it's in the twilight zone.
It keeps on preoccupying itself with the past, and it's not defining the
future. It has destroyed the economy of the country and there's no solution
as to what to do about the current economic crisis.
“Seventy-five percent of people are living below the poverty line. That's a
serious deterioration of the standard of living. The erosion has been very
deep. One who was earning Z$100 in 1980, today he's earning Z$2 – worth the
same.”
Ruda: “If you were the President tomorrow, what could you do about it?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “We have a programme to stabilise the situation. First of
all you must understand that one of the imperatives is to withdraw our troops
from the Congo.
“Going in there, we committed enormous resources at the expense of
Zimbabweans for no natural strategic interest. The health system collapsed,
we have no fuel, we are sustaining a war machine only to prop up an
illegitimate government.”
Ruda: “And once you've pulled the troops out of the Congo, what else will you
do?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “Well, there's another issue because we face a budgetary
crisis. We also face a foreign currency crisis. We barely have two days'
supply of foreign currency. We need somewhere in the region of a billion to
two billion US dollars to correct and stabilise the situation.
“Any aid that goes to Zimbabwe must be conditional on three critical issues:
observation of human rights; democratic development; and the rule of law.
“Mugabe had to sell something. He cannot continue to sell the liberation, he
cannot sell the economy, so he looks for the land trump card. He created
conditions where people are diverted from the economic problems to the land
issue. So he creates racial hatred. He revives historical injustices by
fighting the Brtitish, as if we were not a sovereign state of the last 20
years. Mugabe and Zanu PF have failed to install fundamental land reforms
over the last 20 years. He wants to revive that. How does he do it? … He
says, ‘See, I'm taking land from the whites and giving it to the people'.”
Ruda: “Is there another solution? Is there other land available?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “The government has got two to three million hectares at
the moment. in terms of stud farms, under-utilised land, all that; land that
has already been acquired, but has never been settled for the last four to
five years. So it's quite a serious contradiction.”
Ruda: “How serious a problem is the race issue?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “I won't tell you race is no longer an issue, but what
Mugabe has done is ignite racial hatred across ethnic and racial divides. So,
what he has failed to achieve through national reconciliation, he has
achieved through farm invasions.
“We were very sceptical about the credibility of the Registry-General's
office to undertake such a Referendum, so we were surprised with the outcome.
At the same time, you had the Zanu PF so confident that victory was almost a
foregone conclusion. They were equally shocked.
“Whether Mugabe likes it or not, the people are going to deliver the
change.”
Ruda: “Is there a danger of civil war?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “The conflict is the people versus Mugabe, so I don't
think we'll have a civil war just because Mugabe is incompetent.
“I've always said conflict is what Mugabe is looking for, so there's an
excuse to declare a State of Emergency. So people have to be very careful
about the way they confront it.”
Ruda: “What are the chances of a fairly free and fair election?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “Ideally, what we want to see is a free and fair election.
But we are talking here of not ideal conditions. The government is highly
intolerant of opposition views – we have no access to the media, the
opposition voice is not heard. We have to rely on going directly to the
people and addressing the people.”
Ruda: “From the outside it looks like your country is teetering on the edge
of an abyss. Are you still optimistic?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “I'm very optimistic because there's enough potential in
the country. The infrastructure is still intact; the people are there; the
workforce is there… hardworking people, educated people. General peace. In
terms of crime, there is minimal crime. So, yes, it can be reversed.”
Ruda: “And if you look into a crystal ball… how do you see the outcome?”
Morgan Tsvangirai: “An MDC victory, obviously. I don't want to sound boastful
and confident, but this is the feeling on the ground.”