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Zimbabwe: Madhuku Dismisses Mbeki Mediation Effort!
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New Zimbabwe (London)
May 3, 2007
Posted to the web May 3, 2007
Torby Chimhashu
NATIONAL Constitutional Assembly chairman Dr Lovemore Madhuku has dismissed South African President Thabo Mbeki involvement in Zimbabwe's dialogue process as a ploy to buy more time for embattled President Robert Mugabe.
Madhuku said Zimbabweans must ratchet up pressure on the 83-year-old Zimbabwean leader and his government by staging massive demonstrations in the coming months.
Addressing workers on May Day at Gwanzura Stadium, Highfield, the NCA leader said solutions to the Zimbabwe crisis lay with Zimbabweans, adding putting faith in Mbeki was "a waste of time".
Said Madhuku:"We have solutions to our problems and these solutions come from Zimbabweans. We must never be fooled by Mbeki. Mbeki is buying time for Mugabe and his government by promising us that he can help mediate on the crisis.
"All Mbeki wants is time for his friend. Mbeki does not want us to have demonstrations or put pressure on Mugabe. We have seen Mbeki before. What has he done for us? As Zimbabweans we must realise the power and means of escaping poverty and hunger lie within us."
Mbeki was tasked with defusing Zimbabwe's political tensions by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) heads of state in Tanzania in March.
The summit came amid Western calls for a tougher line on Mugabe following a widely-condemned crackdown on human rights activists and opposition members that included Madhuku and the two leaders of the fractitious opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) -- Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.
The political leaders were tortured while in police custody following their arrests in Highfield on March 11.
African leaders have refused to publicly rebuke Mugabe and have urged dialogue. Mbeki has so far asked Zimbabwe's opposition groups and Zanu PF to make submissions on any ground rules for the scheduled talks.
"We were here in Highfield on March 11 and seriously beaten by security agents. Mugabe failed to kill us and he won't kill us. He wanted to kill but failed. Let us unite and fight poverty and misrule. I promise you, we are going to return to Highfield in the coming months. We won't be afraid of taking on the security agents including the police officers here.
"Mugabe knows Highfield is in the history books as the hotbed of national protest. We will return to Highfield and nothing will stop us."
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) secretary general Wellington Chibebe told the same gathering that Mugabe was prepared to destroy the labour movement.
He said police had stopped the ZCTU from marking May Day commemorations in five towns including Marondera, Bindura, Rusape and Norton.
"We remain resolute in our drive to have the rights of workers restored. Today police mounted roadblocks in and out of Highfield in a bid to stop us. They have failed.
"The roots of the ZCTU lie with the ordinary workers not with me or the council. Mugabe won't kill the ZCTU. Even if he bellows, hits the podium and says 'never ever', we the ZCTU say ever and ever," Chibebe said.
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He urged the workers to remain united and show cause in their demands for better salaries and living conditions. "We don't subscribe to wage freezes. Gideon Gono wants that, but we say no.
"When Gono took office, he was touted as the messiah. His slogan was failure is not an option, but you all know that he has not used that (slogan) in his two recent monetary policy staments.
"Gono is now dancing with failure."
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