11 October 2008
editorial
THE MDC on Thursday declared a deadlock in the negotiations with Zanu PF over sharing of Cabinet positions.
It is a clear demonstration of the resistance by President Robert Mugabe and his party to the power-sharing agreement.
Zanu PF has been in power for nearly three decades, but is adamant it will not relinquish its sway, even for the proposed transitional period. Evidently, this is a game in which personal selfish interests are overshadowing national priorities.
Three weeks ago, Morgan Tsvangirai, Professor Arthur Mutambara and President Mugabe signed a power-sharing agreement, overseen by regional leaders.
Yet as soon as the Sadc heads left Harare, the divide between the parties was amplified and transformed into a chasm.
On September 15 after signing the power-sharing agreement Mugabe pledged: "There are many issues in the agreement that I did not agree with and still do not agree with. Likewise Mr Tsvangirai has some issues he did not agree with. There are things that we both do not like. But we have to walk in the same direction and walk the same route. We have been walking the same route without knowing it or not acknowledging it and history makes us walk together. . ."
Prime Minister-designate, Tsvangirai told the nation and the same regional heads of state and government: "Party divisions and labels no longer matter. We have to focus on stopping the devastating food shortages that have affected the people of Zimbabwe. 'I have signed the agreement because of the hope for the future, driven by the need of a new, better and brighter country'. . ."
Deputy Prime Minister-designate, Mutambara said: "The new government has to make painful decisions to make the country move forward -- painful, courageous decisions. . . We need to apply our minds on stabilising the country's economy. . ."
Yet, three weeks down this arduous road that the three leaders took ostensibly "in the greater interests of Zimbabwe", they continue to haggle over who should take charge of which government ministries. Sadc facilitator, Thabo Mbeki, is being called back, to remind these three of the commitment they made before their nation and leaders from the region.
As they fight over which slice of the cake each of them should deprive the others of, the people in whose name they supposedly inked the deal face starvation, history-defying rate of inflation, hardships that are beyond narrative, soaring transport costs and stratospheric prices for basic commodities and an economic decline whose scale is overwhelming.
On Thursday Tsvangirai put the problem in its correct perspective: the dispute was not between him and Mutambara; it was between the MDC and Mugabe and his party whom he accused of "lack of sincerity and commitment".
Mugabe told his supporters at the Harare International Airport upon his return from the UN General Assembly that a new Cabinet would be named a week ago. Does he not hear the cries of the children of Zimbabwe? What principles is he defending when with each passing day the country sinks deeper into the quicksands of hunger and impoverishment?
If the September 15 agreement had been about the people of Zimbabwe first and foremost, there would have been movement and the nation would be sighing with relief.
That they are not is a measure of the extent to which individuals are prepared to sacrifice a whole country for their own selfish ends. Right now, the world outside demonstrates it is more concerned about the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans than those who have become obstacles to implementation of the terms of last month's political settlement. We have hypocrites masquerading as leaders!
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