The Zimbabwean government says it looks forward to meeting opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his party in crunch polls next year after his acquittal on charges of plotting to kill long-time President Robert Mugabe.
"Government will accept the judgement. We'll respect it, and we now look forward to meeting the MDC and its current leader Tsvangirai at the polls in March 2005," Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said late Saturday.
He made no allusion to a possible appeal by the state against the acquittal of the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) who was cleared of high treason by the High Court on Friday, a charge which carries the death penalty.
The opposition leader said he had been set up and politically persecuted.