Opposition calls for mass action to oust Mugabe

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for mass action to force President Robert Mugabe out of power. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters at a briefing at the weekend that Mugabe should recognise the anger in the country’s people and retire, rather than wait to be removed in an “unceremonious exit”. “If he (Mugabe) remains defiant and continues as he is doing, with the mood in the country, I think he risks the chance of being violently removed by the people. The anger is deep and he should be able to read that. There are many dictators in the world who have had to make an unceremonious exit,” Tsvangirai warned.

Speaking at a rally earlier to celebrate the first anniversary of the MDC Tsvangirai said: “What we would like to tell Mugabe today is that please go peacefully, and if you don’t want to go peacefully, we will remove you violently,” said the opposition leader. Asked by reporters after the rally what he meant by removing Mugabe violently, Tsvangirai said he was referring to the mass action. “We never said we will use violence. I was referring specifically to the mass action that we are going to engage in,” Tsvangirai said. Mugabe’s term of office is to end in March or April of 2002. Tsvangirai had earlier told a crowd of about 20,000 MDC supporters that the country could not wait for presidential elections due in 2002 because Mugabe would rig the polls.