Tsvangirai ready to meet Mugabe
2005-08-02 19:53
Harare - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Tuesday that he was ready to sit down for talks with President Robert Mugabe to resolve the country's deepening political and economic crises.
Tsvangirai said: "Meeting President Mugabe to solve the national question that we are confronted with any day, anytime, anywhere, I am ready to do so."
Tsvangirai was speaking at his home after the state dropped treason charges against him.
His remarks came after Mugabe said he would resist international pressure for him to open talks with the opposition as part of a comprehensive solution to the Zimbabwe crisis.
Mugabe said: "We can never do that, we shall never do that... and no one has the right to want to dictate to us that we accommodate the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)."
The leader of the MDC said Zimbabwe's main problem was state repression illustrated by a recent demolitions campaign that left hundreds of thousands homeless.
Avoiding possible expulsion
Tsvangirai said: "It's not Tony Blair who came to destroy people's homes."
Tsvangirai was alluding to claims by Mugabe that Blair harboured plans to re-colonise Zimbabwe using the MDC as a front.
On South Africa's proposed financial aid package to Zimbabwe to repay a long overdue loan from the International Monetary Fund and avoid possible expulsion from IMF arrangements, Tsvangirai said the intervention would only be a stopgap measure.
He said: "You are managing the crisis and not resolving it. What is needed in Zimbabwe is not to deal with the symptoms, but the causes of the problem, which is political...
"We wish that SA would use this leverage of this offer of $1bn to make sure that this political crisis is resolved."
SA officials had said they were holding talks with Zimbabwe on a possible bailout package, but had not given a figure.
Media reports had said that SA would attach tough conditions for the financial aid including talks with the opposition.