MDC continues to challenge Mugabe legitimacy

Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has told IRIN that it has not given up its challenge to the legitimacy of President Robert Mugabe's election, and will continue with its court action to have it reversed. This follows speculation in the media on Monday that an MDC document setting out issues for proposed talks between the opposition and the ruling ZANU-PF, submitted to church intermediaries at the weekend, omitted the issue of Mugabe's legitimacy. The document, signed by MDC secretary-general Welshman Ncube, states that "it is the MDC view that the current crisis in the country is multifaceted and has political, economic, social and humanitarian aspects to it". It notes, however, that "at the core of the crisis are issues of governance and the people's freedoms and liberties to determine their destiny through free, fair and open elections". Ncube told IRIN that it was a simplistic and shallow reading of the document that had led to the assumption that the MDC had withdrawn its challenge of Mugabe's legitimacy. "For obvious strategic reasons, instead of putting on the agenda a heading 'legitimacy of Mugabe government', we put in all the issues that led to that illegitimacy - the absence of the rule of law, the absence of political liberties, the flawed electoral framework etc. - in other words, the sum total is all the issues that went wrong resulting in an illegitimate election," Ncube explained. "If we drop that issue we have nothing to talk to ZANU-PF about, it's a simple issue that they stole an election," he added. As to the status of the proposed talks, Ncube said the ball was in the ruling party's court. "We were made to believe, by the churches here, that Mugabe agreed that his party would hand over to the churches a document containing the issues they want to be included in dialogue [between the parties]. We were then requested, on that assumption, that we should also hand in our list of issues and we did that on Friday. That's where we are, I don't know if ZANU-PF intends to hand in their list. We will wait for the church leaders, and the various emissaries shuttling between us and ZANU-PF, to come to back to us," Ncube told IRIN. He added that "hopefully, sooner rather than later" the two parties would be able to conduct formal negotiations. However, the official Herald newspaper reported on Tuesday that ZANU-PF secretary for information and publicity, Nathan Shamuyarira, would not comment on the list of issues the MDC has put forward for discussion. "I cannot speculate on the talks. I have nothing to say because the groups have not started the talks and the negotiating teams have not started," he was quoted as saying. The 2002 presidential poll was condemned by some election monitors, including the Commonwealth and European Union, as neither free or fair. An MDC legal challenge to the poll results is to be heard in November.