Battle lines were drawn Sunday after Tsvangirai’s MDC resolved it would not join Mugabe’s government unless its outstanding demands were met.
Posted by African Press International on January 20, 2009
Johannesburg (South Africa) — Embattled Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his main rival, opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, were geared up for an explosive encounter Monday in make-or-break talks to resolve the country’s deepening political stalemate.
The Harare meeting will also be attended by Mozambican President Armando Guebuza, and SA’s President Kgalema Motlanthe and Southern African Development Community (SADC) regional mediator Thabo Mbeki. It will help determine whether Mugabe attempts to go it alone or whether the fragile power-sharing accord hammered out with the two opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) formations last year will be revived.
Also present will be the leader of the other MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara. Motlanthe has arranged the meeting at Tsvangirai’s request.
Battle lines were drawn Sunday after Tsvangirai’s MDC resolved it would not join Mugabe’s government unless its outstanding demands were met. The party said it would not support a constitutional amendment bill, which comes to parliament Tuesday, to legalise the unity agreement if Mugabe did not meet its demands.
“The MDC national executive reiterated that there had to be finality on the protracted dialogue, either in success or in failure, because Zimbabweans cannot continue to be arrested by an inconclusive process. A ll outstanding issues should be resolved first before an inclusive government is formed,” Tsvangirai’s party said.
Outstanding issues include an equitable allocation of ministerial portfolios, appointment of governors, ambassadors and permanent secretaries, and the composition and functions of a national security council. Other sticking points are the unilateral executive appointments after July 21 last year and the immediate release of MDC and civic activists being held on “trumped-up charges”. Dozens of MDC and civic activists are appearing before the courts after a wave of abductions by state security agents and detentions on charges of plotting to oust Mugabe by military means. The activists have told harrowing tales of harassment, beatings and torture.
The MDC’s decision puts Tsvangirai on a collision course with Mugabe, who also declared the meeting “make or break”. Mugabe told the state-owned Sunday Mail at the weekend that the meeting with regional leaders would determine if he would work with his rival or not. “This is the occasion when it’s either they accept or it’s a break,” he said.
“After all, this is an interim agreement. If they have any issues they deem outstanding, they can raise them after they come into the inclusive government. Whatever concessions there (are) to be made have been made.”
Mugabe argued that Zanu (PF) had so far complied with all SADC resolutions on the formation of the inclusive government. He said MDC demands on outstanding issues would be addressed when it joined the government. “We have signed an agreement, which we have already gazetted as required by SADC. We have done all that SADC expected us to do and now all that remains is fulfilling the agreement by forming an inclusive government,” he said.
However, the MDC says Mugabe and his party violated the unity accord at will. It cited abduction and torture of its activists and the reappointments of Reserve Bank governor Gideon Gono and attorney-general Johannes Tomana as examples of violations of the agreement, which says all key appointments must be made by agreement between leaders.
Mugabe’s former spokesman, Jonathan Moyo, reportedly lobbying to rejoin the government, told state media yesterday Tsvangirai’s claim on appointments was wrong because he could not be consulted before he joined the government. He said the MDC was creating “false controversies” to blur issues and hinder progress in implementing the agreement to form a unity government.
“If Tsvangirai wants to be consulted and to be part of the national decision-making process, then he should take the oath of office without which he will remain just a common citizen like anyone else,” Moyo said. “Unless he wants to eat his cake and have it at the same time, the message is clear: no oath of office, no consultation. It is plainly ridiculous for Tsvangirai to try and create a false controversy that he has not been consulted … as if there has been any constitutional or legal basis for consulting him that has been violated.”
source.Business Day (South Africa) – January 19, 2009.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
