Harare – Southern African leaders’ reluctance to push Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe into a compromise on a unity government has weakened the opposition under a troubled power-sharing deal, analysts said.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) held more than 12 hours of closed-door talks on Sunday but failed to find common ground between Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
The two rivals signed a power-sharing deal on September 15, calling for 84-year-old Mugabe to remain as president while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister.
But they have failed to agree on key cabinet posts, especially the home affairs ministry which runs the police.
The summit recommended that the rivals run home affairs jointly – a proposal that Tsvangirai swiftly rejected, saying he was “shocked and saddened” by the summit’s failure to take a stronger stand.
He accused the 15-nation bloc of lacking “the courage and the decency to look Mr Mugabe in the eyes and tell him that his position was wrong”.
Despite Tsvangirai’s refusal to accept SADC’s proposal, the summit insisted that the unity government should be formed immediately.
Political analyst Charles Mangongera said that amounted to a tacit backing of Mugabe.
“For SADC to come up with such a position where they endorse what was suggested by Zanu-PF … is disappointing,” he said. “What SADC has done will make people question its capacity to deal with regional crises.”
Sydney Masamvu of the International Crisis Group said the summit had highlighted the reluctance of African leaders to pressure Mugabe, who is still considered a liberation hero.
“The bottom line (that the summit demonstrated) was to show the powerlessness of SADC in really leaning on Mugabe,” he said.
“Mugabe got what he wanted from SADC. His first prize was to get endorsement from SADC to go ahead to form a government and he got it,” Masamvu added.
Tsvangirai has called on the African Union to help break the impasse, but analysts said the continental grouping was unlikely to have more leverage with Mugabe than SADC.
“The AU is not going to be more powerful and able to resolve something that SADC is not able to do,” said Dirk Kotze of the University of South Africa.
Mugabe regularly accuses Tsvangirai of acting as a stooge for western countries, making it politically difficult for him to appeal to the United Nations to step in.
Some analysts said that Tsvangirai should simply accept the deal as the best offer he was likely to receive.
“The MDC has very few options, if any. It really has no choice but to participate under protest, in the larger interest of the nation,” said Eldred Masungure, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe.
SADC is deeply divided over Zimbabwe, and only five of bloc’s leaders – including Mugabe – showed for the summit.
Neighbouring Botswana has called for a rerun of Zimbabwe’s elections under international supervision.
But other SADC countries like Swaziland – Africa’s last absolute monarchy – don’t practice democracy themselves, or have their own political troubles at home.
Mangongera said SADC’s failure to resolve the crisis would only worsen Zimbabwe’s economic crisis, with inflation last estimated at 231 million percent and half the population needing emergency food aid.
“The majority of Zimbabweans would suffer because the politicians have failed to reach an agreement on how to share power,” he said. – AFP/News24
Related posts:
- SADC to discuss Zimbabwe Aid package SADC heads of state and government meeting in Swaziland...
- MDC wants AU and SADC to sort out problems in Zimbabwe’s Unity government The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has invited the...
- Southern Africa leaders support Zimbabwe Aid Plan SADC leaders meeting in Swaziland have agreed to lobby...
- Zimbabwe’s senate President Madzongwe accussed of forcing white family off their farm Zimbabwe’s senate president Edna Madzongwe has been accused of...
- Jacob Zuma to get tough with Mugabe – But is he going to succeed where Thabo Mbeki failed? Has anyone ever tried to be tough with Robert...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Tue, Nov 11, 2008
Zimbabwe News