Tsvangirai says Mugabe must show that Zimbabwe is more important than individuals

Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday said President Robert Mugabe must send out a clear message that the country is more important than individuals if he truly loves Zimbabwe.

In his message at the party’s 17^th anniversary in Bulawayo yesterday, Tsvangirai said Mugabe must retire and set the stage for a new course for the country.

Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front insist that Mugabe cannot be forced out of power until his mandate ends in 2018.

“President Robert Mugabe can rant and rave that he was voted in a free and fair election and therefore has a legitimate mandate to govern the country. However, the grim reality is that given his age and his crimes of omission and commission, he must set the stage for national recovery,” Tsvangirai said.

“For the sake of his legacy, he needs to send out a message that the country is more important than individuals. He must retire and set the stage for a new course for the country. If he truly loves this country, his departure will be the first positive sign to set the country on a new trajectory for recovery and growth.”

Tsvangirai, civil activists and even churches have been calling on Mugabe, who has been in power since independence in  1980, first as Prime Minister and then as President, to step down to save the country which has been in a tailspin since Mugabe and his ZANU-PF regained power in 2013.

Mugabe lost the elections to the MDC-T in 2008.Tsvangirai beat Mugabe but did not secure enough votes to form the government. His party won one more seat that Mugabe’s.

The two parties were forced to form an inclusive government that ran the country from 2009 to2013.

Zimbabwe which has experienced almost a decade of economic decline until 2008 made a dramatic recovery in 2009 when it scrapped its currency and adopted multiple currencies which are now dominated by the United States dollar.

Mugabe won the elections in 2013 by an overwhelming margin but has not been able to turn around the economy despite spelling out bold plans to do so.

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