MDC say SADC working on ‘safe passage’ for Tsvangirai to return home

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 May 2008

The Southern African Development Community is making every effort to ensure that MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai gets back into the country safely and in the shortest time possible, his spokesman George Sibotshiwe said on Monday.

‘He (Tsvangirai) is facing a very serious threat to his life and the MDC security team had to restrain him from going ahead with his return trip to Zimbabwe on Saturday,’ Sibotshiwe added.

The MDC is accusing the country’s military of plotting to assassinate Tsvangirai.
His spokesman said they got a tip-off from a well-placed source within the security services in Harare of a planned assassination.

Sibotshiwe said Tsvangirai has received many messages of support from people in Zimbabwe and the region, adding that SADC was working on a plan to ensure he returns home safe to start his campaign for the run-off poll of 27th June. There are reports that SADC was considering asking South African President Thabo Mbeki to try again, as facilitator of the Zimbabwe crisis, to put pressure on the regime in Harare to guarantee Tsvangirai’s safety during the campaign period. It’s believed Mbeki tried but failed to get these assurances when he met Mugabe a week ago in Harare.

Responding to suggestions that the MDC leader was damaging his credibility and his hances of toppling Mugabe in the second round, Sibotshiwe said anyone saying that was failing to understand the political terrain in the country.

‘He has done the right thing to make sure he’s protected to complete the struggle, so that people in Zimbabwe will be freed from this tyranny,’ Sibotshiwe said.

Speaking in Nairobi, Kenya on Monday MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said the assassination plot involved snipers. He said the military, which has been ‘running the country’ since Mugabe lost to Tsvangirai in the March elections, were involved in the plot.

Biti said he could not give more details because it would put a lot of lives at risk. He also condemned African leaders’ failure to confront Mugabe. He also said that Mugabe’s campaign of violence will almost certainly backfire, as so many victims have said they are now more determined than ever to vote out the regime. Many Zimbabweans in exile have also vowed to return to vote in the June runoff presidential election.