Sunday News (Zimbabwe)

Tsvangirai lets ‘coalition’ cat out of bag

- Munyaradzi Musiiwa Midlands Correspond­ent

MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai has inadverten­tly confirmed that opposition parties have succumbed to the pressure of the expectatio­ns of their Western sponsors to form a coalition as they continue to pursue their regime change agenda.

Addressing party supporters at a rally at Mkoba Stadium in Gweru yesterday, Mr Tsvangirai said opposition parties in Zimbabwe should form a coalition so that the internatio­nal community would not blame them if they lose in next year’s harmonised elections.

Mr Tsvangirai said MDC-T, however, would hand-pick the political parties that they were going to form the coalition with.

“Most people are talking about the coalition. Coalition yacho muZimbabwe has its own complicati­ons because it is a coalition before the elections. They are different from the one in Britain which was done after the elections. Ours is different because you do not know qualitativ­ely who is bringing more people. But why tichida (want) coalition is because we do not talk of quantity as we already have a huge support base.

The reason is that hatidi (don’t want) internatio­nal community inozoti blamer kuti hamuna coalition se opposition ndosaka makadyiwa. (you lost becasue you dont have a coalition). We are doing this in the national interests. I have told the other opposition parties that we have the right to choose our partners. It is also unhealthy for us to compete against each other,” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai also conceded that MDC-T has no capacity to transform the economy but would rely on other countries if they were to be voted into power.

“We are not going to recover because it has already been destroyed. We are going to engage the internatio­nal community kana tapinda mu (if we get into) Government. Without the internatio­nal backing hapana kwatinoend­a (we won’t do anything),” he said.

Mr Tsvangirai reiterated that he was not going to accept the results of the 2018 presidenti­al elections if the opposition party loses.

“I want to be like Donald Trump. I am not going to accept those results if Zanu-PF wins,” he said.

He went on to contradict his earlier stance, this time saying the United Nations (UN) recommende­d Biometric Voters Registrati­on (BVR), which was recently introduced by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), would make vote rigging impossible.

“Musatye muchiti zvazoitwa nema (Don’t fear because) Chinese, they have been recommende­d by the United Nations so it is impossible to rig if we use that system,” he said.

 ??  ?? File Photo: MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and National People’s Party’s leader Dr Joice Mujuru sign their coalition pact
File Photo: MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and National People’s Party’s leader Dr Joice Mujuru sign their coalition pact

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