Tsvangirai in Botswana – more text messages from Zimbabweans
Earlier this week, we asked Zimbabweans what they thought of MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai basing himself in Botswana.
Here are some more of their replies:
He has to come back & instill confidence in the electorate but obviously he has to be security conscious lest he runs into a booby trap.
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He should come back so that we face this war together he is our man.
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Tell Tsvangirai to come back. Lets fight together they can arrest him yes but the revolution spirit will never die.
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Tsvangirai should not take refuge in a foreign country. He must come back home and face the reality. He should be like a Kalilombe which sacrifices itself up to death.
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What would u do if there is no one to protect you? He is right.
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Morgan has no soldiers to protect him in here & he has done his part building trust of the people what is left is the people to install the president of their choice.
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It’s wise he must be where he is safe and secure. If he is in here there are chances of being killed & we will lose our good leader. His safety is important.
Thursday, April 24th 2008 at 10:38 pm
I’m sorry to criticize the good work on your blog here but I think there is no real use discuss wheather Tsvangirai has to come back or not. He is not on holiday und is doing some great work to push pressure. So the world is watching further. There are other things to do. Just join other activists to look for creative ideas. Look for instance to Sokwanele but i think you know already. They are doing great work and actions a lot of people involved now. With more and more ideas and support of each other we can do impossible things. Go on and be safe!
Friday, April 25th 2008 at 9:14 am
Hi Sandra
Kubatana does a lot of work outside of this blog forum as well – inspiring and sharing activist ideas with a large membership.
Dissent is the foundation of democracy.
Discussion is always useful. When you shut down free and open discussion you behave like the authoritarian Zanu PF.
People reflect a wide variety of interests and beliefs. Not all people necessarily support Morgan Tsvangirai’s regional diplomacy, others do. Respect that.
There is a need for local leadership from the MDC. If that is not provided, it should be criticised. Part of the reason why we have been landed with Mugabe for so long is our unwillingness to keep him honest.
It’s up to us to keep the MDC and Tsvangirai accountable and aware that Zimbabweans are not of one opinion, we are of many opinions.
Friday, April 25th 2008 at 6:06 pm
I appreciate your frustration but a little realism is needed in these circumstances. If we were a “normal” democracy of course Tsvngirai should be at home leading the populace. But Zimbabwe is far from being one- you may recall that rallies are banned, the state press- tv and radio- is inaccessible to the opposition. So how on earth could Tsvangirai effectively rally the people/challenge Mugabe when people are unable to move freely, when the MDC leadership are now all targets for elimination.? The Zimbabwean people have done their job which was to vote that bastard regime out of office. At this stage, Tsvangirai is of more use to us outside our borders- applying diplomatic pressure, shaming Mugabe’s african neighbours into taking a definitive position against Zimbabwe’s broken democracy and ensuring that Mugabe never gets the legitimacy he craves.