Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 14:19:27 -0700
To: "Zimbabwe Crisis Mailing List":;
From: Zimbabwe Crisis
Subject: ZimCrisis#95 -- Beware of Mugabe's 30 Pieces of Silver
Hi everyone,
I don't remember the source of this. It came to me last week via e-mail.
Craig
ZIMBABWE has finally got an official opposition party in the young labour-backed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - and it's about time too.
Now that the dust is settling after the most violent election campaign in Zimbabwe's 20 years of independence, it is time to take stock. First, the MDC and indeed its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, must be congratulated for a job well done. It was never going to be easy to get anything from ZANU PF. All the other parties that were formed and died in the past 20 years bear testimony to this. To get 57 of the 120 contested seats in an election pregnant with state-sponsored terrorism, violence and intimidation is no mean feat. It is a real triumph over evil.
The MDC should go into the new Parliament fully aware that it carries the hopes and aspirations of peace-loving and hard working Zimbabweans who have suffered silently for years under the yoke of ZANU PF oppression. It should go into Parliament aware that the blood of some Zimbabweans had to be needlessly shed to allow the country's first official opposition to take its rightful place in the House. Those deaths should not be in vain. MDC legislators should realise that they have an enormous job to do and so little time.
What the MDC in Parliament ought to do is to build a solid opposition directly focused on the myriad of problems bedevilling this young country. The MDC should go into Parliament fully prepared for battle because the ruling party will not move an inch from its village bully-boy tactics that it has employed over years to cow Zimbabweans into submission. MDC legislators must realise that President Robert Mugabe will do anything and everything to perpetuate his rule of this country. He will use the stick. He will also use the carrot. History has taught us that Mugabe and ZANU PF will leave no stone unturned to crush any powerful opposition. Remember what happened to ZAPU. Attempts will be made to weaken the MDC in Parliament now that Tsvangirai won't be a member. Some politicians' egos will be inflated. Some may be offered Cabinet posts, others the biblical 30 pieces of silver. It is imperative that the MDC whips its newly-elected MPs into line immediately and makes it crystal clear that cohabitation with ZANU PF will not be tolerated.
Zimbabweans need the MDC as an opposition party in Parliament, not as an apron of Mugabe. To many Zimbabweans, the MDC is the government-in-waiting. The MDC must immediately and clearly espouse policies that can help lift this country out of the economic and political quagmire that ZANU PF has thrown it into. It must pay back to Zimbabweans who risked life and limb to vote for the party by guiding our young democracy with vision and courage. The MDC in Parliament must work day and night to protect the rule of law, to attract investment into this country, to create jobs and, above all, to make Zimbabweans proud and united again.
Remember, time and tide wait for no man and the stakes will be much higher in 2002.
Craig
Zimbabwe Crisis Mailing List
http://www.niner.net/zimcrisis
This is currently a manually administered mailing list. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send your request to DELETED. Personal requests for removal will be carried out immediately. Requests from governmental, political or press organisations (or their representatives) will be treated less favourably. The purpose of this list is not necessarily to redistribute published news reports. Rather, it is intended to distribute reports from or directly affecting people in Zimbabwe. If you have seen something before, I apologise. Hopefully that will not be a regular occurrence. Any reports from respondents that are relayed to the mailing list will be done so anonymously.
Brief list of helpful sites on the issue:
- Zimbabwe Crisis mailing list archives -- http://www.niner.net/zimcrisis
- Comprehensive news updates -- http://www.1freespace.com/beetee
- Offers of and requests for help for Zimbabweans -- http://pub9.ezboard.com/boffersofhelp
- Commercial Farmers' Union -- http://www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
- Movement for Democratic Change -- http://www.in2zw.com/mdc
- Zimbabwe Democracy Trust -- http://www.zimbabwedemocracytrust.org
- BSAP Pursuit of Zimbabwean Criminals -- http://www.bsaphq.f9.co.uk
To: "Zimbabwe Crisis Mailing List":;
From: Zimbabwe Crisis
Subject: ZimCrisis#95 -- Beware of Mugabe's 30 Pieces of Silver
Hi everyone,
I don't remember the source of this. It came to me last week via e-mail.
Craig
ZIMBABWE has finally got an official opposition party in the young labour-backed Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) - and it's about time too.
Now that the dust is settling after the most violent election campaign in Zimbabwe's 20 years of independence, it is time to take stock. First, the MDC and indeed its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, must be congratulated for a job well done. It was never going to be easy to get anything from ZANU PF. All the other parties that were formed and died in the past 20 years bear testimony to this. To get 57 of the 120 contested seats in an election pregnant with state-sponsored terrorism, violence and intimidation is no mean feat. It is a real triumph over evil.
The MDC should go into the new Parliament fully aware that it carries the hopes and aspirations of peace-loving and hard working Zimbabweans who have suffered silently for years under the yoke of ZANU PF oppression. It should go into Parliament aware that the blood of some Zimbabweans had to be needlessly shed to allow the country's first official opposition to take its rightful place in the House. Those deaths should not be in vain. MDC legislators should realise that they have an enormous job to do and so little time.
What the MDC in Parliament ought to do is to build a solid opposition directly focused on the myriad of problems bedevilling this young country. The MDC should go into Parliament fully prepared for battle because the ruling party will not move an inch from its village bully-boy tactics that it has employed over years to cow Zimbabweans into submission. MDC legislators must realise that President Robert Mugabe will do anything and everything to perpetuate his rule of this country. He will use the stick. He will also use the carrot. History has taught us that Mugabe and ZANU PF will leave no stone unturned to crush any powerful opposition. Remember what happened to ZAPU. Attempts will be made to weaken the MDC in Parliament now that Tsvangirai won't be a member. Some politicians' egos will be inflated. Some may be offered Cabinet posts, others the biblical 30 pieces of silver. It is imperative that the MDC whips its newly-elected MPs into line immediately and makes it crystal clear that cohabitation with ZANU PF will not be tolerated.
Zimbabweans need the MDC as an opposition party in Parliament, not as an apron of Mugabe. To many Zimbabweans, the MDC is the government-in-waiting. The MDC must immediately and clearly espouse policies that can help lift this country out of the economic and political quagmire that ZANU PF has thrown it into. It must pay back to Zimbabweans who risked life and limb to vote for the party by guiding our young democracy with vision and courage. The MDC in Parliament must work day and night to protect the rule of law, to attract investment into this country, to create jobs and, above all, to make Zimbabweans proud and united again.
Remember, time and tide wait for no man and the stakes will be much higher in 2002.
Craig
Zimbabwe Crisis Mailing List
http://www.niner.net/zimcrisis
This is currently a manually administered mailing list. To subscribe or unsubscribe, send your request to DELETED. Personal requests for removal will be carried out immediately. Requests from governmental, political or press organisations (or their representatives) will be treated less favourably. The purpose of this list is not necessarily to redistribute published news reports. Rather, it is intended to distribute reports from or directly affecting people in Zimbabwe. If you have seen something before, I apologise. Hopefully that will not be a regular occurrence. Any reports from respondents that are relayed to the mailing list will be done so anonymously.
Brief list of helpful sites on the issue:
- Zimbabwe Crisis mailing list archives -- http://www.niner.net/zimcrisis
- Comprehensive news updates -- http://www.1freespace.com/beetee
- Offers of and requests for help for Zimbabweans -- http://pub9.ezboard.com/boffersofhelp
- Commercial Farmers' Union -- http://www.mweb.co.zw/cfu
- Movement for Democratic Change -- http://www.in2zw.com/mdc
- Zimbabwe Democracy Trust -- http://www.zimbabwedemocracytrust.org
- BSAP Pursuit of Zimbabwean Criminals -- http://www.bsaphq.f9.co.uk
