Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change has with immediate effect pulled out of the fragile inclusive government with President Mugabe’s
Zanu PF. This follows the detention of Roy Bennett who is being tried on charges linked to long-discredited allegations that his party plotted Mugabe’s violent overthrow.
Tsvangirai announced this morning that his MDC has disengaged from President Mugabe’s “dishonest and unreliable” ZANU-PF party. He said, “It is our right to disengage from a dishonest and unreliable partner. In this regard, whilst being in government we shall forthwith disengage from ZANU-PF and in particular from cabinet and the council of ministers until such time as confidence and respect are restored amongst us,”
The detention of Roy Bennett precipitated the withdrawal. Bennett is being tried on charges linked to long-discredited allegations that his party plotted Mugabe’s violent overthrow.
“The … detention of our party treasurer Roy Bennett has brought home the fiction of the credibility and integrity of the transitional government. It has brought home the self-evident fact that ZANU-PF see us as a junior, fickle and unserious movement,” Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai said fresh elections under the supervision of United Nations are needed.
The MDC has been in recent past threatened to pull out claiming that Mugabe is violating every agreement that led to the inclusive government.
Read Press Statement from Morgan Tsvangirai, MDC President
