Tsvangirai Promises Vote for Diaspora
Posted by ZDN on December 4, 2009
Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday appealed to his countrymen to return home to help rebuild the country.
“The isolation of Zimbabwe must come to an end,” said Tsvangirai, speaking at a seminar in Cape Town. “There is need for reconstruction and rehabilitation back home. The Diaspora has an obligation.
Tsvangirai is in South Africa for two days of meetings with leading figures from the Zimbabwean Diaspora, to discuss ways to accelerate economic growth in the country. The meetings, hosted by the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), began in Franschoek yesterday, and included Zimbabweans who fled the violence and economic meltdown from 14 different countries.
Emphasising the need for reconciliation, Tsvangirai said Zimbabweans need to stop criticizing President Robert Mugabe and instead focus their energies on reconstructing their lives in their home country. “The mantra of ‘Mugabe must go’ has to stop,” he said. “You must come home. Home is always best.”
Tsvangirai said the government had to play its part in formulating policies that will take the country forward.
“It’s a two way process,” he said.
He also assured the crowd, composed primarily of members of the Zimbabwean diaspora, that should there be an election next year, all Zimbabweans would have the opportunity to vote.
“The vote will be available to every Zimbabwean who wants to exercise it, whether in the country or not,” said Tsvangirai. “There are more than 4 million of you, of course we want your vote.”
Tsvangirai said that the transitional government is on the whole making clear progress.
“Over the last ten months, having been part of the government, there have been definite positives,” he said. He cited improvements in hospital and school conditions, shops stocked with produce, and the containment of cholera. But he did acknowledge there were still challenges to overcome.
“We are still facing erratic violence and political abuse,” he said.
The Prime Minister also drew some laughs from the crowd when asked by an MDC supporter why he was not president, despite winning the election last year. “If it were that simple, if it were only a question of voting,” said Tsvangirai. “Winning an election and winning power are two different things evidently.”
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12-05-2009
1:34 pm
Sophie Mhlmhu
Zimbabweans will return once law and order returns and once Pres Mugabe leaves. Until this happens alot of Zimbabweans will keep fleeing over the Limpopo