Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe says he is ready to go ahead and form a cabinet if opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai does not sign a power-sharing deal on Thursday. Meanwhile Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC responded by saying any attempts by Mugabe to pressure it into an agreement would fail. “Where on earth have you seen dialogue held on the basis of threats and ultimatum? They want to bully us into an agreement, but that’s completely unacceptable,” MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said to Reuters.
Reports in Harare have described talks on Thursday as the last chance for Tsvangirai to agree to a power-sharing deal that could see an end to the current political and economic crisis in the country.
Mugabe is reported to have said he would form a government with or without Tsvangirai because Zimbabwe could not afford to have a situation where there is no cabinet forever, the Herald reported.
“If after tomorrow (Thursday) Tsvangirai does not sign we will certainly put together a cabinet. We feel frozen at the moment,” Mugabe told reporters in Lusaka on Wednesday after attending the funeral of the late Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa.
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe said a power-sharing deal is expected this week, state radio reported on Thursday. The radio also reported that South African President Thabo Mbeki was expected in Harare on Thursday. However President Mbeki’s spokesman has denied the South African President will be going to Zimbabwe. “The President in not going to Zimbabwe,” Mbeki’s spokesman Mukoni Ratshitanga said, but he also added that power-sharing talks were still continuing.
The opposition MDC President Morgan Tsvangirayi said on Wednesday, talks were dead locked over the sharing of executive powers.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai says Zimbabwe’s power-sharing talks with Zanu PF have broken down and are unlikely to resume soon, South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 reported. The talks are deadlocked as Mugabe and Tsvangirai can not agree on how they should share executive powers. Tsvangirai is quoted as saying in an interview he “was not aware of plans” for post-election negotiations to resume soon.
Explaining why he refused to sign a power-sharing agreement with Mugabe, Tsvangirai said: “There was an attempt to fragment the cabinet. With some ministries reporting to the president and some reporting to the prime minister.”
“In this case the economic and social ministries would go to the prime minister. The security ministries will go to the president.”
The continued deadlock is not helping Zimbabwe at all, the economic crisis in the country is getting worse everyday and the future doesn’t look good. The whole nation had their hopes for economic recovery on the signing of this agreement, but what now then Zimbabwe?
What are the prospects of economic recovery in Zimbabwe? Feel free to post your comments.
The Zimbabwe government has finally yielded to major pressure and announced that it is lifting the three months ban on the distribution of food to starving Zimbabweans in the country. Aid agencies were banned from giving out food aid during the run up to the elections in June. In a statement broadcast on ZBC TV, the Ministry of Social Welfare said: “The government has with immediate effect lifted the suspension of operations of private voluntary organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).”
These included those involved in “humanitarian food assistance, relief, recovery and development, childcare and protection and the rights of people with disabilities.”
Robert Mugabe had banned Aid agencies from operating in Zimbabwe in the run-up to the June 27 presidential elections accusing them of using food to persuade rural people to voter for Morgan Tsvangirai.
South Africa’s Foreign Ministry has said that all parties in the Zimbabwe power-sharing talks will take part in negotiations to be held in South Africa on Friday. No time limit has been set for the negotiations, SA’s foreign ministry said. “All the relevant players are here in South Africa at the moment, and I think the length of the discussions will be determined by what progress they make. I don’t think there is any limit or deadline,” South Africa’s Deputy Foreign Affair Minister, Aziz Pahad told reporters.
Zimbabwe’s ruling Zanu PF has said there is no need for more power-sharing talks with the opposition MDC, the Herald reported on Friday. The newspaper quoted Patrick Chinamasa who heads Zanu PF’s tean in the negotiations saying: “There was no need for more talks since there was a deal already on the table waiting to be signed.” Zimbabwe’s rival parties have failed to reach an agreement on a power-sharing deal that could end the current political and economic crisis in the country.
Meanwhile President Mugabe announced that he would soon form a new government saying the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was not willing to join the new administration.
Now that you have watched the video, feel FREE to share what do you think about the events at the official opening of parliament. How will these events affect the ongoing power-sharing talks between the MDC and Zanu PF?
Zimbabwe’s President, Robert Mugabe has said that he will form a new government despite a deadlock in power-sharing discussions with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
We shall soon be setting up a government,” Mugabe is quoted as saying in the Herald newspaper at the official opening of the Zimbabwe parliament.
“The MDC does not want to come in apparently. This time they have been promised by the British that sanctions will be more devastating, that in six months’ time the government will collapse.”
“I do not know when that day will come. I wish Tsvangirai well on that day,” said President Mugabe.
Feel Free to share your views by posting your comments.
Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change MPs booed President Mugabe as he delivered his speech at the official opening of parliament on Tuesday, in an unprecedented show of defiance. MDC MPs refused to stand when President Mugabe entered, and shouted Zanu PF “is rotten!” The jeers occasionally drowned President Mugabe’s speech that was broadcast live on ZBC TV. The president had to raise his voice and, looking annoyed, raced through the final lines.
“The elections are now behind us, what is upon us is a challenge of vision and common purposes. Now is a time to put Zimbabwe first,” President Mugabe said.
Meanwhile the opposition MDC said three of it’s MPs were arrested at parliament on what it called trumped-up political violence charges.
“The MDC views this continued harassment and arrest of MDC legislators by the state security agents as a direct affront to the will of the people of Zimbabwe,” the MDC said in a statement. Four MDC MPs are said to have been arrested in the past two days.
