Tsvangirai calls on the youth

Tsvangirai's impassioned plea to young people around the world to mobilize in order to help the humanitarian and political crisis in Zimbabwe comes ahead of the upcoming run-off election between President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), scheduled for 27 June 2008.

‘MTV base meets Morgan Tsvangirai' was shot at a secret location in Johannesburg with MTV base VJ Sizwe Dhlomo just minutes before Tsvangirai was due to fly back into Zimbabwe after six weeks self-enforced exile in neighbouring South Africa. MTV was approached by the Dispatch Foundation, a charity created by the US acoustic trio Dispatch with the aim of providing humanitarian resources to the people of Zimbabwe, to highlight the issues currently affecting Zimbabwe.

In the hands of the youth

During the course of the 30-minute interview, Morgan Tsvangirai speaks about the potential of Zimbabwe's youth in driving transformation in that country and his vision for a democratic Zimbabwe. He also discusses the recent xenophobic attacks on refugees living in South Africa, and the personal risk he faces in returning to Zimbabwe ahead of the elections.

MTV also provided a platform for four African youths from Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Angola and Uganda to pose testing questions to the presidential hopeful on issues ranging from corruption to the stance of South African president Thabo Mbeki on the Zimbabwean crisis.

Commented Alex Okosi, senior vice president & managing director, MTV Networks Africa, "'MTV meets' is a great platform that provides our audience with an opportunity to interact with the leaders shaping our continent. We are delighted that Morgan Tsvangirai was able to give young Africans his honest and candid view of the Zimbabwe situation, and hope that it inspires young Zimbabweans to head to the polls on 27 June."

On-air

'MTV base meets Morgan Tsvangirai' will air in Zimbabwe and across the rest of sub-Saharan Africa on Sunday 15 June at 14:30 CAT on MTV base via the DStv satellite platform (DStv Channel 322). The programme will be repeated on Monday 16 June at 22:00 CAT. PSAs based on excerpts from the interview will also air on a coalition of MTV networks in the USA including Emmy award winning network mtvU, MTV, MHD, VH1 and VH1 Soul and VH1 Classic, asking viewers to petition South African President Thabo Mbeki, the South African Development Committee and other African leaders to help ensure there is a fair runoff in Zimbabwe at the end of the month.

To watch the full interview with Morgan Tsvangirai, go to http://zimbabwe.mtvu.com/.

To view the PSAs on the Zimbabwe election, go to http://zimbabwe.mtvu.com/run-off/, http://zimbabwe.mtvu.com/apartheid/ or http://zimbabwe.mtvu.com/the-youth/.