Word: tsvangirai
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TIME: You often sound more optimistic than your people, many of whom question sharing power with Mugabe. Tsvangirai: This arises out of a lack of change of paradigm, among all the people. It is sometimes very difficult to change mindsets. But our people were experiencing struggle fatigue because of the economic and social pressures they were facing. At some point we had to define a roadmap to resolve our national crisis: a transition, a new constitution. If we had not gone into government, what would have happened? Collapse? When we came into government in February, we found $4 million...
TIME: How much of your success depends on how Zanu can change itself? Tsvangirai: I don't think Zanu has ever transformed itself. It was a liberation movement based on a military-political power structure, and it just moved straight into government. There was no distinction between the party that came out of liberation and the party in government, and that has cost them over the years. They did not move with the times. And it is the highest of irony that a government that invested so much in education became a victim of people's increasing sophistication. Today, there...
TIME: How is your personal relationship with Mugabe? Tsvangirai: It's been a difficult adjustment. I can't hide from the fact that the animosity between us is legendary. We have begun to have some personal chemistry. We are business-like. We are respectful even if we disagree. I am hopeful that can move to trust, but we have not reached that yet. Don't get me wrong. You cannot defend Mugabe's past, especially since 2000, especially the violence, the election rigging, the refusal to give a voice to the people. That part is totally indefensible. But the most...
TIME: How is it that so many people can have so many disparate views, and such extreme ones, of the same country? Tsvangirai: Some extremists have understandable concerns. If I had grown up in privileged society because of my race, I would probably like to protect that. You feel nostalgia for the past and forget the reality of the present. And there's the other extreme: let's burn down the buildings to cross out the past. That's unacceptable. It's self-destructive. The middle ground is where the majority is. The majority of people are not ideological. They...
TIME: How do you try to steer this very vexed transition when, at the same time, you lose your wife? Tsvangirai: And my grandson...