Daily News asks Tsvangirai: what next?

The Daily News which hailed the week-long anti-government protest that had been called by the Movement for Democratic Change to force President Robert Mugabe to step down went for MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai asking him that now the protest was over what was he going to do next.

“Zimbabweans, who stayed away from work this week to demonstrate their anger at the government’s mismanagement of the country, will wake up next Monday to find themselves facing exactly the same problems which have killed their nation,” the paper said.

“But most significantly, President Robert Mugabe will not have resigned or conceded that he has failed to run Zimbabwe and agreed to negotiations with the MDC, the stated objectives of the opposition party’s mass action….

“Having called upon Zimbabweans to make the sacrifices that they made this week, with many arrested or beaten up in public by State security agents, we ask MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai: what next now?

“Does the opposition party have any alternative and viable plan beyond mere mass stayaways to free Zimbabweans from this dictatorship? “

Full cable:

Viewing cable 03HARARE1139, MEDIA REACTION MASS ACTION IN ZIM; HARARE

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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS HARARE 001139

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/PDPA DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS AND AF/S RAYNOR

E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: PREL PHUM KPAO KMDR ZI

SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION MASS ACTION IN ZIM; HARARE

¶1.   Under headline “What next after mass action?” the

independent daily “The Daily News” dedicated its

June 5 editorial to challenging the leadership of

the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)

to “come up with an imaginative and focused plan

that can save Zimbabwe” from the current

socioeconomic and political tragedy. The call comes

in the wake of a week-long strike called by the MDC

that has successfully shut commerce and industry

during the last three days, despite government

threats to punish companies that failed to open.

Excerpts:

¶2.   “Zimbabweans, who stayed away from work this week to

demonstrate their anger at the government’s

mismanagement of the country, will wake up next

Monday to find themselves facing exactly the same

problems which have killed their nation. . .But most

significantly, President Robert Mugabe will not have

resigned or conceded that he has failed to run

Zimbabwe and agreed to negotiations with the MDC,

the stated objectives of the opposition party’s mass

action. If anything, Zimbabweans can expect Mugabe

terrified into action by the huge success of this

week’s stayaway to come out fighting to shore up his

tottering regime. Having called upon Zimbabweans to

make the sacrifices that they made this week, with

many arrested or beaten up in public by State

security agents, we ask MDC leader Morgan

Tsvangirai: what next now? Does the opposition

party. . .have any alternative and viable plan

beyond mere mass stayaways to free Zimbabweans from

this dictatorship. . .? In as much as the mass

action this week is a sign that the government has

run out of options beyond brute military force, it

is also a wake-up call to Tsvangirai and the MDC to

strategize beyond stayaways and to always have an

alternative plan should the first one be thwarted by

the besieged government. . .The opposition party

must rapidly get its act together and come up with

an imaginative and focused plan that can save

Zimbabwe now and not to prolong the crisis. . . .”

SULLIVAN

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