MDC-T says security forces must now return to their barracks if Mnangagwa really wants to walk his talk

Saturday, 25 November 2017

MDC continues fight for Zimbabwe's total democratisation

President Morgan Tsvangirai and other top leaders of the MDC were present at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on Friday, November, 24, 2017 when Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated as the new President of the Republic of Zimbabwe after the resignation of former President Robert Mugabe on November 21, 2017.

The MDC is a social democratic political party whose roots are firmly anchored in the labour movement. Ideologically, therefore, the MDC is on the left of centre. It is a politically party that has designed and adopted policies that deliberately take into account the interests of labour, the poor and the marginalised.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s inauguration speech was refreshingly reflective of the well–grounded MDC policies such as the stimulation of industrial production, re–engagement with the broader community of nations, job creation and clamping down on rampant corruption including, of course, the rationalisation of the land reform program as well as the compensation of former white commercial farmers.

 As people listened to Mnangagwa’s inauguration speech, it basically sounded like he was reading from the MDC policy documents such as JUICE and ART. As a party, we are flattered to note that President Mnangagwa seems to have radically departed from the usual Zanu PF drivel such as hate–filled language, empty sloganeering and the rabid promotion of racism and retribution against perceived political foes, both domestically and internationally. As the MDC, we feel vindicated that our policy framework has since attracted new admirers in the form of President Emmerson Mnangagwa if his inauguration speech is anything to go by.

President Mnangagwa promised that elections will be held in 2018 as scheduled. The MDC and its Alliance partners have been preparing for next year’s harmonised elections for quite some time now. What we really expect is that next year’s elections should be free and fair and that they should produce a credible and legitimate result that is free from contestation.

Electoral reforms that include complete and thorough de – politicisation of traditional leaders, should, thus, be promptly put in place in time for next year’s elections. That is the real acid test of the new President’s inauguration speech. Elections in Zimbabwe have been routinely rigged and manipulated in favour of the ruling party. Zanu PF has developed a notorious record of violence, thuggery and intimidation; particularly during electioneering times.

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