Mandebvhu Talks “Zimbabwe”…

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday vowed to resist any pressure to sign an agreement that does not reflect the aspirations of Zimbabweans as he revealed intricate details of what transpired during the collapsed power-sharing talks. Shortly before he left for South Africa, Tsvangirai told The Standard he had a hard time during negotiations as he was pressured to sign a deal with President Robert Mugabe. He also revealed how tempers flared as they haggled over the roles they could assume in a new inclusive transitional government. Tsvangirai also made startling revelations that South African President Thabo Mbeki prepared the controversial draft that would have made him a lame duck Prime Minister and entrenched Mugabe’s grip on the country. The MDC leader refused to sign the agreement, saying he needed more time to reflect and consult before putting his signature. Tsvangirai said it was left to Mbeki to come up with the final draft during the Heroes’ Holiday after he and Mugabe had failed to agree on some sticking points. These involved the terms of the transitional government and its duration, the constitution and the need for amendments, the roles and functions of the Prime Minister and the President. The sticking points were referred to Tsvangirai, Mugabe and MDC leader Arthur Mutambara by negotiators who had failed to find common ground in SA.

Under Mbeki’s draft, Tsvangirai realised that he would become an overburdened Prime Minister without any authority: he would not chair the Cabinet and would not have any power to appoint, censure or dismiss ministers. Yet Tsvangirai would be expected to make sure the economy of country, destroyed by Mugabe’s policies, was back on track. In that ceremonial role, it would be his responsibility to ensure the state “has sufficient resources and appropriate operational capacity to carry out its functions effectively”. Tsvangirai said he came under serious pressure from the three leaders to sign the agreement. Harsh words were exchanged as he was told that was the “best agreement” he could get under the circumstances. If the agreement was unworkable, he could still get back to SADC leaders, he was told. Tsvangirai said Mugabe fiercely opposed any constitutional amendment that would dilute his duties, insisting, he needed to remain head of state, government and being Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Frustrated by the process, Tsvangirai said at one point he suggested that he and Mugabe swap roles in an effort to test the sincerity and fairness of the arrangement. “Mugabe fumed. He said no ways, he could not become the Prime Minister,” Tsvangirai said. While Tsvangirai refused to sign, both Mugabe and Mutambara agreed to the deal.

Tsvangirai said he took a right decision not to sign. He, however, said he made the decision after exhausting all efforts to reach an agreement that would ensure Zimbabwe had a transitional government that could take Zimbabweans out of the present political and economic crisis. While the MDC had pressed for Mugabe to be a ceremonial President, Tsvangirai revealed he ended up making significant concessions to Mugabe for the sake of the voters who wanted a way out of the crisis. “Fully aware that we won the March 29 election, we could have demanded nothing but outright victory,” he said. “But we reached a position, where we said it was important for cohabitation with ZANU PF for the sake of the country.” “I said yes, Mugabe can remain the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. I also didn’t object to Mugabe heading the National Security Council,” said Tsvangirai, referring to the body known presently as the Joint Operations Command, a group made up of army, police, prisons and Central Intelligence Organisation chiefs. “We hoped this would show we were genuine in the quest to find an agreement to establish a transitional government that rebuilds confidence in Zimbabwe and ensure there is food, jobs and justice for Zimbabweans.” But Tsvangirai said his overtures were fruitless because Mugabe, whom he said had not had a “paradigm shift and still thought he was the winner”, refused to make some compromises on the functions of the PM. Mugabe insisted that he chaired the Cabinet.

“I pointed out we could not have a ceremonial Prime Minister. It would have been unprecedented,” Tsvangirai said. “Mugabe wanted to me to be responsible for solving the problems he created, yet he didn’t want me to have the full authority to carry out that task. The other problem was how could I be asked to sort out the mess (economic problems) when the person (Mugabe) who created it in the first place was in charge of the Cabinet,” Tsvangirai said. He said it was ironic that pressure was being brought on him to sign the agreement, yet it was Mugabe who was supposed to be pressured into ceding power. “He refused to share power. He opened Parliament, now he is talking about appointing a Cabinet. This goes against the spirit of the talks.” Despite failure of the talks, Tsvangirai said he would not give up. He spoke as he prepared to leave for SA en route to Zambia where he will attend the burial of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa. Tsvangirai would then embark on a diplomatic offensive in West Africa, amid indications that the MDC intends to ask the AU and the UN to take over from where Mbeki left. Party leaders said it was time the two bodies took a central role in trying to get a deal for Zimbabwe as economic hardships worsen. Commenting on the way Mutambara’s faction has sided with ZANU PF in Parliament, Tsvangirai said: “Events this (last) week show serious political opportunism and the betrayal of people’s project.” Mutambara was unreachable last week. He is believed to be in the US.

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s party has rejected new demands by the opposition following meetings with South African mediators to get power-sharing talks back on track, state media said Saturday. “The only new but absurd suggestion from the MDC was that the cabinet be co-chaired by President Mugabe and Tsvangirai,” state daily The Herald quoted a source by Mugabe’s Zanu PF as saying, referring to MDC opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. “ZANU PF dismissed the suggestion, not just as insolent, but also stunning ignorance on how government works.” A delegation from Mugabe’s ZANU PF and the MDC met in Pretoria Friday with South African mediators to “gauge feelings and thereafter decide on the way forward”, the source told The Herald. The opposition would not comment on its demands while the negotiations are continuing. “I am not at liberty to outline any of our positions (…) until I get the green light from my authorities,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP.

Mugabe, whose ruling ZANU PF party lost its majority in March elections, has hinted he would soon form a government without the opposition, because of a lack of progress in the talks. The power-sharing talks were officially suspended in mid-August. Divisions remain over how Mugabe, 84, and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, would share power in a national unity government, including what authority they would have as president and prime minister. Analysts believe Mugabe is reluctant to yield responsibility for sensitive security ministries like the army, police and intelligence, given that Zimbabwe’s military are strong backers of the veteran president. According to The Herald ZANU PF is not willing to budge. “It (ZANU PF) said from its perspective all that remained was for the MDC to append its signature to the document or withhold it for as long as it likes knowing fully well that the process of forming a government would proceed unhindered,” the newspaper quotes the source as saying. Power-sharing talks began after both sides signed a memorandum of understanding on July 21. Mugabe won the June 27 run-off election after first-round winner Tsvangirai withdrew from the vote in protest at widespread election violence.

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Apparently, mobile phone operators in Zimbabwe have increased their prices by 1,000% as the country’s inflation spins out of control. The end result is that an SMS within the country costs between $5 and $7, while sending the same SMS outside of Zimbabwe costs between $12 and $20.

And you thought you’re paying too much for your mobile service?

Hopefully, inflation in Zimbabwe will stop soon and as the things get back to normal, SMS prices will also decrease…

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Pervasive fear, suspicion and general mistrust still hound villagers who suffered political violence by ZANU PF youth militias after President Robert Mugabe’s defeat in the March election.

Memories of savage killings, torture and intimidation are still fresh in their minds.

Many are still nursing deep wounds inflicted on them by neighbours for voting against Mugabe in favour of MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai.

Villagers still treat strangers and even their neighbours with outright suspicion.

“I don’t discuss politics with anyone even my friends because I don’t know how these talks will end,” said an elderly Chiweshe villager, who cannot named for security reasons.

“If the talks break down, the killers may come back and wipe us out.”

The villagers in Chaona in Chiweshe district of Mashonaland Central saw several suspected MDC supporters killed.

Some lost limbs, homes and livestock to their neighbours.

While there appears to be, generally, a commitment from members of the public to reconcile and co-exist in some parts of the country, there is still suspicion between victims and perpetrators of violence.

These views emerged during recent interactions with villagers from different parts of the country. The villagers said there had been a significant decline in political violence.

“A number of people who had fled the village are now back,” said Nathaniel Zhou, who said he was from Chitekete in Gokwe North.

“There are still a few pockets of enmity here and there, but generally, we are living together as one people. We have forgiven each other as brothers.”

Even a Gokwe-based pastor acknowledges the challenges of co-existence.

“We have had some very complex scenarios where the clashes were between members of our church. Getting them to attend services together is now a challenge. We have engaged community members, in collaboration with other churches and some civil society organisations. While in most cases a great deal has been achieved, we have had some people vowing never to live “nema chinja” (MDC supporters),” said the Pastor, who asked not to be identified.

Another victim of political violence from Zaka in Masvingo province, who can only be identified as Norman, said living in the same village with the killers of his best friend, Krison Mbano, was a nightmare.

Mbano together with Washington Nyamwa were killed after an MDC district office was doused with petrol and set alight by known ZANU PF supporters in June.

“They can’t look into my eye for they know what they did. I feel I am betraying my friend by letting them roam around,” he said. “They should face justice. I can’t forgive them.”

Other victims of Mugabe’s scorched earth policy have not returned to their homes despite the two MDCs and ZANU PF signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on July 21, which, among other things, called for the cessation of political violence.

The parties called “upon all our supporters and members and any organs and structures under the direction and control of our respective parties to stop the perpetration of violence in any form”.

They also called on people who were displaced when Mugabe embarked on his campaign to ensure victory on June 27 to return home. The 84-year-old leader contested alone after Tsvangirai withdrew from the race citing excessive violence against his supporters and officials by Mugabe’s loyalists, mostly youth militias, self-styled war veterans and state security agents.

Hundreds of MDC officials and supporters have not returned to their homes fearing retribution from militias loyal to the fist-waving president.

The MDC last week said its supporters, including elected legislators and councillors, were still in hiding as rogue ZANU PF elements continued to terrorise them, especially in rural areas, a direct violation of the talks and the MoU.

MDC director of information, Luke Tamborinyoka, said although political violence had generally subsided, there were still areas where youth militias were terrorising opposition supporters and even preventing them from returning to their homes.

He said the most volatile areas included Mutoko and Murehwa in Mashonaland East, Makoni and Buhera in Manicaland, and Gokwe in the Midlands.

The MDC cited more than 2000 detentions, over 200000 internally displaced, and in excess of 10000 of its supporters injured and maimed as a result of ZANU PF-orchestrated violence.

At least 5 000 MDC supporters, mainly polling agents and council candidates, are thought to be missing or unaccounted for.

Some 10 MPs-elect and councillors, said Tamborinyoka, were still in hiding or could not access their areas.

“In some areas, the situation is still very tense and some people are still coming to our offices looking for their missing relatives and friends,” he said.

The MDC said some 125 opposition activists had died since the March 29 harmonised elections.

The MDC spokesman for Manicaland, Pishai Muchauraya, said self-styled war veterans were still waging a violent campaign against his party supporters in the province.

Muchauraya said Buhera South was the worst affected area as the war veterans were “terrorising the area and brutalising our supporters”.

MDC MP-elect for Buhera South, Naison Nemadziva, remains in hiding in Mutare, after threats to his life.

In Makoni South, said Muchauraya, Chief Chiduku was demanding a $50 fine from all MDC supporters in Ward 28 for what he called “over-excitement” after the March elections.

 “Anyone who does not pay that money will be evicted from all villages under Chief Chiduku,” said Muchauraya.

Chief Chiduku could not be reached for comment. He is a prominent ZANU PF stalwart, appointed to the Senate by Mugabe in 2005.

ZANU PF spokesperson Nathan Shamuyarira was also not available for comment.

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Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will form a new government soon but he says the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) does not want to join the new administration, state media reported on Wednesday.

”We shall soon be setting up a government. The MDC does not want to come in apparently,” state-owned newspaper The Herald quoted Mugabe as telling government officials on Tuesday after opening parliament.

Mugabe, who was booed and jeered by opposition members when he opened the assembly, has said he is still hopeful of agreement in post-election power-sharing talks with Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, aimed at ending a political crisis.

The MDC said it remained committed to talks but the party insisted on an inclusive government.

”We have expressed confidence in the dialogue, we remain committed to a dialogue process that is going to produce an acceptable outcome for all the players, an inclusive government. We are against this unilateralism and arrogance,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

The talks, which began a month ago, were still taking place, Zimbabwe’s new parliamentary speaker, Lovemore Moyo, said on Wednesday.

”The talks are on,” Moyo, a senior MDC official, told South Africa’s Talk Radio 702. He also said the heckling of Mugabe was regrettable but reflected MDC frustrations over the political deadlock in the country.

A stalemate in talks between Mugabe and Tsvangirai over how to share power has undermined hopes for an agreement that might allow Zimbabwe to recover from its devastating economic decline.

The world’s highest annual inflation rate of over 11 million percent and severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages have driven millions of Zimbabweans to neighbouring countries.

Mugabe’s critics say his policies helped wreck the economy, in particular the seizure of white-owned commercial farms to give them to inexperienced black farmers.

Mugabe criticised his former cabinet strongly on Wednesday.

”The Cabinet that I had was the worst in history. They (only) look at themselves, they are unreliable, but not all of them. The people are suffering…,” The Herald quoted him as saying.

The MDC said Mugabe had no right to open parliament. He was re-elected unopposed in a June vote boycotted by Tsvangirai because of violence and condemned around the world.

The opposition party said three of its deputies, elected in polls in March in which the MDC gained the most seats, were arrested at parliament on Tuesday on what it called trumped-up political violence charges.

The MDC said its Secretary-General, Tendai Biti, would again appear in court on treason charges on Wednesday.

Biti was arrested in mid-June and could face the death penalty. He appeared in court on Tuesday but the case was postponed for a day.

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Hecklers drowned out Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, as he opened parliament today with a speech accusing Britain and the US of using rising food prices to try to oust his regime.

Opposition MPs - who outnumber members of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party for the first time since the former British colony gained independence in 1980 - jeered and sang in protest at the failure to reach a power-sharing deal despite weeks of talks.

As Mugabe talked of a “vicious onslaught” from international critics and accused them of trying to thwart efforts to import food, the opposition chanted “ZANU is rotten” and “We have a pact with the people”.

Power-sharing talks chaired by the South African president, Thabo Mbeki, have been deadlocked. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had objected to Mugabe opening parliament but eventually agreed in a gesture that the MDC leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, said may help revive the talks.

Mugabe, 84, told the parliament: “Landmark agreements have been concluded, with every expectation that everyone will sign up.”

Tsvangirai won the first round of the presidential election but boycotted the run-off with Mugabe after a widespread campaign of state-sponsored intimidation and violence against MDC supporters.

Despite the MDC’s slim majority in the lower house, ZANU PF has a majority in the upper house, the senate, which allows it to block legislation passed by MPs.

The MDC yesterday landed a blow against Mugabe when its candidate, Lovemore Moyo, was elected to the influential position of parliamentary speaker.

It is the first time since independence that the opposition has held the post, which is crucial because Moyo will now take charge of contentious debates in the hung parliament if no power-sharing deal is reached.

ZANU PF did not put up a candidate for speaker, instead backing Paul Themba Nyathi, who is from a splinter MDC faction headed by Arthur Mutambara.

ZANU PF holds 99 seats in parliament, while the breakaway MDC faction has 10. During the power-sharing talks it was assumed that Mugabe and Mutambara had reached an agreement to work together.

That would have eclipsed the MDC, which has 100 seats, leaving Tsvangirai’s party on the outer after he refused to accept a prime ministerial post answerable to Mugabe and with limited powers.

Moyo’s tally - he won by 110 votes to 98 - shows that numerous MDC-Mutambara MPs and perhaps even a few ZANU PF members were willing to support Tsvangirai’s party.

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Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe named eight ministers and provincial governors in the midst of talks on power sharing with the opposition, which alleged that two of its lawmakers were arrested before being sworn in. Mugabe appointed governors to eight of the southern African nation’s 10 provinces, former Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said by phone today from Harare, the capital. The process of swearing in lawmakers to the Senate and the lower National Assembly began this morning, AFP reported, without citing anyone. “Also reappointed as vice president was Joseph Msika, while I and John Nkomo have been appointed as non-constituency senators,” Chinamasa said. Nkomo was previously speaker of the National Assembly. Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change began talks on forming a unity government on July 21. The nation has been in political deadlock since Mugabe extended his 28-year rule of the country in a one-man runoff presidential election in June. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted the vote to protest violence against his supporters.

Police in Zimbabwe arrested two MDC lawmakers and attempted to detain a third as they tried to enter parliament today, the MDC said in an e-mailed statement in Johannesburg. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said police planned to arrest at least 15 of its Members of Parliament. Those held include Shuah Mudiwa, MP for Mutare West, and Elia Jembere of Epworth, the MDC said. In legislative elections in March, the MDC won 100 seats in the National Assembly, while ZANU PF obtained 99. A faction of the MDC, led by Arthur Mutambara, garnered 10 seats and said in April it would unite in Parliament against Mugabe’s party. “In an effort to block the MDC’s bid to have party chairman Lovemore Moyo made Speaker of Parliament, they will arrest at least 15 of our MPs,” Chamisa said. “We’ve been informed by reliable sources that Mudiwa’s arrest is just the start.” Police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena denied the allegations. “I haven’t yet been informed of Mr. Mudiwa’s arrest, but the police don’t arrest people without reason and there are no plans for mass arrests of anyone,” he said by phone from Harare.

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Ministers mounted a secret campaign to persuade huge British firms to adopt “an ethical approach” to their investments in Zimbabwe, amid concerns that some could be “silently complicit” in Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror, documents obtained by The Independent on Sunday have revealed. A clutch of internal Foreign Office (FCO) emails lay bare the Government’s deepening fears over the damage 16 companies trading with the pariah state could do to Britain’s reputation as it struggled to defuse the crisis over Mr Mugabe’s “stolen election”. But they also demonstrate how ministers were powerless to control the firms, including Barclays, Shell and BP, by persuading them to sign up to a voluntary agreement to uphold human rights in Zimbabwe. The FCO last night confirmed that ministers had failed to thrash out an “optional ethical code” with investors. The Prime Minister’s hard-line stance on Mr Mugabe, urging firms not to “prop up” the regime, was undermined by a series of revelations about the billions of pounds British firms still had invested in Zimbabwe. The IoS also revealed that seven MPs owned significant shareholdings in companies trading in the country.

The documents, obtained under Freedom of Information legislation, disclose that FCO officials and the Cabinet Office were under intense pressure to respond to the public mood and find a way to exert some “leverage” on the firms. An internal email last month revealed that the IoS revelations in particular had intensified the pressure on ministers attempting to resolve the crisis. “There is a lot of public interest in additional measures against the regime in Zimbabwe,” the memo, from 1 July stated. “One angle is financial, centred on current Zimbabwean legislation that requires banks to surrender part of their foreign currency to the government. We discussed this at this morning’s Whitehall Zimbabwe crisis meeting.” Another email between senior FCO officials on the same day said: “We’re looking into how UK businesses with links to Zimbabwe can help. How can we encourage an ethical approach from British Businesses (inc banks or their subsidiaries) trading in /with Zimbabwe? What leverage do we have over the behaviour of British businesses, and how can we apply it most effectively?” However, the response pointed out that only nation states, not corporations, were bound by international human rights legislation. The email continued: “It is to be hoped that UK companies are not directly complicit or beneficially complicit in human rights abuses. Some may however be silently complicit by failing to raise the question of systematic or continuous human rights violations in their interactions with the appropriate authorities. For example, inaction or acceptance by companies of systematic discrimination in employment law against particular groups (which in the context of Zimbabwe might be interpreted as those opposed to Mugabe).”

The departments came up with a proposed voluntary code comprising seven key principles that they hoped British firms would agree to outlaw in their dealings with Zimbabwe. But the code, including an obligation to oppose human rights abuses and discrimination, failed to gain support from the firms. John Hilary, executive director of the charity War on Want, said the Government had been “misguided” to expect that a voluntary code would work. “Hoping that companies would abide by an optional code flies in the face of experience, and the Government should know that that is the case,” he said. A spokesman for Barclays said the bank had abided by sanctions against Zimbabwe. He added: “We have been there for the best part of 100 years and a lot of people depend on us, for their food, if nothing else.”

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I am disappointed with the apparent breakdown of the talks. My assessment is that the MDC is overplaying its hand.

There are indeed echoes of ZANU PF in MDC’s take no prisoners approach to the talks.

It must be remembered that in essence these talks did not begin after the March election, they have been going on for a very long time now and if truth be told the negotiators from the three parties had negotiated and compromised on most issues which is why a draft agreement was in place.

What remained was for the principals to agree on the powers of the president and prime minister.

MDC-T has been saying that 57% of the voters rejected Mugabe so the agreement should reflect this.

This figure is based on the fact that almost 43% voted for Mugabe.

Yet using the same argument it is fair to say that 52% of the voters rejected Morgan Tsvangirai since he got almost 48%.

This kind of argument does not take us far.

ZANU PF can also argue that they got the popular vote (1111625) compared to the total vote the MDC-T received (1038617) and so on.

The important starting point for me was for the two major parties to understand that they both need each other to extricate Zimbabwe from the problems facing the country.

And this is where I believe that the MDC-T overplayed its hand.

It is unfortunate that there was this veil of secrecy over the talks otherwise people would see for themselves the kind of vacillation from Morgan Tsvangirai.

How do you discuss and agree on most of the things in the draft and then come the following afternoon with a 24-page document that seeks to undo all those things that you have agreed on?

Unfortunately I cannot say much on this now but when the full story of the SADC dialogue is eventually told I hope people will be frank enough to agree that Tsvangirai made some strategic blunders.

Although the draft agreement is modelled on the Kenyan system it would have given Tsvangirai more powers than are granted to Raila Odinga.

It seems to me that there is an obsession with getting President Mugabe’s head on a platter.

There’s this idea that Mugabe has to be humiliated and forced out of office.

This is why there has been this insistence on having a ceremonial president.

Make no mistake, a ceremonial presidency will simply not be accepted by Mugabe and his backers.

I know that victims of ZANU PF’s violence will probably say Tsvangirai is right but what they fail to appreciate is that the political logjam such as we have in our country will not be sorted out if we fail to accommodate each other.

The greatest irony in all this is that ZANU PF has bequeathed to us its culture of intolerance.

We hate and are angry with ZANU PF so much that we have begun to act, speak and behave like ZANU PF.

It seems true what Isaiah Berlin said that: “It is a terrible and dangerous arrogance to believe that you alone are right, and have a magical eye which sees the truth, and that others cannot be right if they disagree.”

There is this belief that the economy will bring ZANU PF down.

This may well be the case, but the fact of the matter is that the economy will bring us down before it brings ZANU PF down by which time it may be too late.

Now SADC has met and the deal has still not been signed.

Tsvangirai says he will embark on a southern African regional tour. Answer me this my brother: You spent almost two days with SADC leaders; what exactly do you want to tell them on this tour that you could not tell them this past weekend? And if you are not signing this deal what is your Plan B?

The MDC will lose the momentum that it had gathered.

The AU will not assist, because their chairman Jakaya Kikwete was there in Sandton for the SADC meeting and is part of this same SADC which issued a statement to say you should sign.

Menkerios from the United Nations was also there. There is also nothing that the UN Security Council can do so long as Russia and China have veto powers. Look at the conflict between Russia and Georgia.

Do you think Russia can vote to support a position that is sponsored by the US or UK given their public spat on Georgia?

Within the region itself King Mswati who had started to question Mugabe is now certainly guaranteed to change his attitude towards Zimbabwe given the public demonstrations and lambasting that he got from civil society organisations during the SADC meeting.

They lumped him together with Mugabe as dictators who should not be entertained.

He will now think twice before any condemnation of Mugabe.

The late president of Zambia Levy Mwanawasa had had enough on Zimbabwe and was also starting to be critical but he is now no more.

The acting President of Zambia Rupiah Banda is no fan of Tsvangirai and you can expect Zambia’s attitude to change especially given Tsvangirai’s intransigence this week.

So what is MDC’s Plan B? Nothing, it is simply not there.

If they do not sign this agreement, I am almost certain that Mugabe will convene parliament and in the not too distant future appoint cabinet.

The tag that the MDC is a puppet party taking its instructions from US and UK will gain currency. And the people of Zimbabwe… well, the people will continue doing what they have done best… suffering.

Is it too much to ask that the politicians put their differences aside and begin to build this country?

This has to happen now because in the long run we will all be dead!

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Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is in a tight spot on how to form a functioning new government after a smaller faction of the opposition he banked on for a coalition said it would not work with him. Mugabe now faces the prospect of going it alone, something that would compound his legitimacy crisis and plunge the economy even deeper into the doldrums. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by Arthur Mutambara assured its restless MPs at a national council meeting on Wednesday that it would not join Mugabe’s government. The party was facing a revolt from MPs after reports that it leadership was considering working with Mugabe. The party deliberated extensively on claims that Mutambara had signed a “sell-out deal” to join Mugabe without main opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Mugabe will next week convene parliament amid protests by the MDC this will sabotage the already stalled power-sharing talks. Tsvangirai yesterday told journalists in Nairobi, which he is visiting as part of his regional tour to press Mugabe to agree to share power, “If President Mugabe goes ahead to convene parliament, appoint a new cabinet, it means he is proceeding to violate the conditions of the memorandum of understanding which means he may have abandoned the basis for talks, but we don’t know what his intentions are,” he said. Zanu PF and the MDC factions signed a memorandum of understanding on July 21 to provide a framework for the talks. “A violation of the memorandum will have to be dealt with by the mediator,” he said. President Thabo Mbeki is the mediator. Sources said although Tsvangirai’s MPs would attend the swearing-in ceremony in Harare on Monday, they would boycott Mugabe’s opening of parliament address on Tuesday.

The plan to convene parliament also came under attack yesterday when fringe opposition party the Zimbabwe People’s Party, led by Justin Chiota, filed an urgent court application seeking a nullification of Mugabe’s re-election and blocking the assembling and opening parliament on Tuesday. Chiota’s demand is contained in an urgent supreme court application . He recently secured a ruling which invalidated his exclusion from the presidential election in March. The nomination court in February rejected Chiota and United People’s Party leader Daniel Shumba’s applications to enter the race as these had been filed late. However, a recent supreme court judgment said the nomination court’s decision was unlawful and invalid. On that basis, Chiota challenged Mugabe’s re-election and demanded that if his application was successful, fresh presidential polls be held within 90 days.

Chiota said the swearing in of MPs and senators on Monday as well as the convening of parliament and constituting a new government should be stopped. In the same application Chiota, a former security establishment officer, also demanded the talks should be aborted as they were being conducted on the basis of the outcome of an unlawful presidential election. “I also submit that the settlement talks based on the results of the election impugned herein are equally an infringement upon my rights as already declared by this court, and the constitution of the government of the Republic of Zimbabwe based on such talks will be in itself an infringement on my rights aforesaid,” he said. A fortnight ago Chiota lost his legal bid to join the talks after the Pretoria High Court dismissed his urgent application saying it did not have the power to rule on a matter outside its territorial jurisdiction. Shumba recently approached the Southern African Development Community Tribunal in Namibia seeking to have his party included in the talks.

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