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Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Not Yet Coming Home
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The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Samantha Chidzero
THE opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not return to Zimbabwe Monday to begin campaigning in a run-off presidential election as expected, a spokesman from his camp has indicated.
Tsvangirai's new spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the MDC-T leader, who announced Saturday he would contest a presidential run-off against President Robert Mugabe, would not return to Zimbabwe today but in due course.
Zimbabwe's Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the opposition leader is free to return to the country.
Tsvangirai at a press conference in Pretoria on Saturday said he would return to Zimbabwe within two days to begin campaigning for a second round of voting in the presidential election, which the MDC is demanding be held by May 23, among other conditions. The MDC had initially said they would never contest a run-off claiming that their leader garnered the required 50 per cent plus one vote on March 29 to claim outright victory.
Official results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission however gave him 47.9 per cent against 43.2 per cent for President Mugabe--below the threshold needed for a direct victory.
Ahead of his return Tsvangirai met over the weekend with Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, a close ally of Mugabe, from whom he sought assurances on his safety in Zimbabwe.
Dos Santos heads the political, defence and security committee of the 14-country Southern African Development Community, which is mediating in the Zimbabwean impasse.
Asked whether the MDC leader had obtained the necessary security guarantees, Sibotshiwe told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: "They (SADC) are working on it."
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Tsvangirai has been based in South Africa and Botswana for the past month, amid concerns for his safety in Zimbabwe, where the MDC claims over 30 of its members have been killed and hundreds of supporters injured in post-election violence.
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