SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
20 October 2008
The MDC on Monday boycotted the SADC Troika discussions on Zimbabwe after its leader Morgan Tsvangirai was denied a passport to travel to Swaziland for the summit.
The meeting of the heads of state of Angola, Swaziland and Mozambique, who form the security committee of the Southern African Development Community, is aimed at trying to help the country' political rivals break a deadlock in negotiations over forming a cabinet.
George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said the regime gave Tsvangirai an emergency travel document around 5pm on Sunday. This left him with no time to apply for a visa to enable him to travel via Johannesburg on his way to Mbabane. There are no direct flights between Harare and Swaziland.
'The regime is playing games. This issue of his passport is well known by SADC leaders and as such he (Tsvangirai) will not leave the country unless he's given a new passport,' Sibotshiwe said.
Sibotshiwe said the MDC was now calling for a full SADC extraordinary summit to deal with the impasse. He said the Troika summit was now history to them, since their leader was denied an opportunity to attend.
Tsvangirai's old passport expired earlier this year and all attempts to renew it have been denied. Elphas Mukonoweshuro, the party's secretary for Foreign Affairs, told Newsreel that Mugabe deliberately created obstacles for Tsvangirai not to attend the Troika meeting. The MDC MP for Gutu South said Tsvangirai battled all week to obtain a valid passport, but failed after the authorities made it clear they were not prepared to issue him a new one.
'Tsvangirai is not a criminal to be denied a passport. He doesn't even need to beg for a passport. He is a law abiding citizen of this country and its his basic right to acquire a passport without any impediments,' Mukonoweshuro said. The party's chief negotiator Tendai Biti told the media in Johannesburg on Monday that Tsvangirai's difficulty in obtaining the documents made it clear that Mugabe was not ready to share power. Mugabe and Tsvangirai were due to meet face-to-face again in Mbabane, to try and resolve the four-week impasse over the sharing of cabinet portfolios. The negotiations in Harare, mediated by the former president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki last week, ended in deadlock after Mugabe grabbed all the key ministries for his ZANU PF party.
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As long as they bring toilet paper it will be fine. Cry the beloved country.
Botswana is right. It's time for new elections with international guards. Looks like Mugagbe had only 33% of the March Vote after all. Morgan is the new president even if he doesn't have a passport. You can never run a goverment while the criminals are still in possition. http://www.houseforsaleweb.com/
Buildcastles, Botswana is totally wrong to suggest that we go for another costly election when the win is there. Besides being costly the elections will distract our attention from the real issues that the country is facing.
For a start the rainy season is upon us, people are hungry, hospitals have no medicines, schools have not opened and children have not been learning since January.
Where do we get the money to contact another costly election when we should be using such resources to buy fertilizers, books for children, medicines for patience and all the like? We do not have… [Read Full Text]
Cde Ndebvu - my apologies if you have seen this response that I penned to one of your other posts earlier on; but it remains pertinent to your comments on this thread:
"I am afraid that your line of thinking is well and truly trapped in the past. The world, including Africa, has moved on since the seventies and your terminology about revolutionary parties and imperialists has about as much relevance today as telegrams and cassette tapes.
To help you not get too despondent, here is some good news for you: > Of the 48 sub-Saharan countries in Africa, two-thirds… [Read Full Text]
Kazt, You are very right that I do not applaud the Mo Ibrahim prize for so-called good governance. To begin with you should know who Mo Ibrahim is, where he is coming from and where he is going. He is presented to us as a very successful businessman but no body really knows where he got the money from or rather how he managed to build his empire. Who is behind Ibrahim if I may ask? Are imperialists not pulling strings from behind the curtains?
What did Mogae do or not do to deserve that money? I can safely tell… [Read Full Text]
Cde Ndebvu - does it matter who or what Mo Ibrahim is? Cecil John Rhodes is now widely and correctly reviled and yet Rhodes scholars are held in high esteem. Alfred Nobel invented a product that has killed millions yet there is no higher accolade than the Nobel prize.
'Are Imperialists not pulling strings behind the curtains?'- sounds like that 1970s dinosaur I was talking about. Do you also dismiss Kofi Annan as a western puppet when he announced the prize?
Surely driving millions of your own people to throw themselves on the generosity of South Africa, Botswana and other… [Read Full Text]
Takunya, you are pathetic.The moderator of this medium should not be allowing your type of garbage to be published.What you wrote is utter rubbish.How can you state that Morgan is the one responsible for the deaths of Zimbabweans? YOU ARE NUTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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SADC has no choice but to change venue to Zimbabwe. That should really help, particularly seeing they will have to change money in the banks and spend USD1,000 to pay for one burger.Good forex for us. Further, they can stay until cabinet is formed and witness swearing in ceremony. While they are there they could visit Mwenezi and witness how the average Zimbabwean is faring out there. Of course, they are advised to take cholera vaccines in advance, as I believe their countries still need them. They may also want to check out Mudede and find out how many emergency… [Read Full Text]