Struggle for democracy has been pedantic and painful - Tsvangirai

The  Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai who is also the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, says the struggle for democracy in Africa has been pedantic and painful.

Speaking at the United Nations University (UNU) on "Democratisation in Africa" in Tokyo, Japan today Tsvangirai said people have had to wage a new struggle for democracy against some former nationalists who have perfected the same repression that so many sons and daughters of our continent fought against for almost a century.

"While we have raised our own sovereign flags after independence, some of the new leadership in Africa betrayed the continent's collective struggle and inherited the same traits and culture of impunity, corruption, repression, misgovernance and personal aggrandisement.

"As an opposition leader in our democratic struggle in Zimbabwe, I was treated with scorn, vilified with impunity and generally treated as an enemy. How dare I have a different view?" said Tsvangirai, adding that the intolerance polarised the nation, scarred society and the people suffered as a consequence.

Tsvangirai said the misfortune of Africa is that some leaders have helped to confirm and to entrench the negative stereotype of a continent of political violence, conflict, disease, hunger and war while lambasting them for pilfering national resources, pick-pocketed the collective people's struggle and shut their ears to the loud national demand for democracy and good governance.

Tsvangirai ended by seeking support for the delicate transition process towards democracy that taking place in Zimbabwe.

"As we prepare for the next election, I urge you to support the call for a free and fair election in Zimbabwe in which the people's will is respected and protected. The people of Zimbabwe would greatly benefit from a global campaign to end violence and to ensure a credible poll in our country," he said.

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