SW Radio Africa (London)
12 November 2008
A showdown is looming between ZANU PF and the Tsvangirai MDC, as Robert Mugabe is threatening to go ahead and form a government. But Morgan Tsvangirai is adamant that the issue of the allocation of ministerial posts has to be resolved first.
A marathon SADC Extraordinary Summit held in Sandton, South Africa on Sunday recommended the immediate formation of an inclusive government and, controversially, the co-sharing of the disputed Ministry of Home Affairs.
Mugabe immediately embraced the outcome of the summit and announced he will form a government either this week or next week and would invite the MDC to submit names.
Tsvangirai said in a statement that SADC missed a great opportunity to bring an end to the Zimbabwean Crisis and said SADC approached the summit 'without any concrete strategy and did not have the courage and the decency of looking Mr. Mugabe in the eyes and telling him that his position was wrong.'
The MDC leader said while his party remains committed to the power sharing agreement signed on 15th September, they will not accept any arrangement that does not allow the MDC to effectively contribute to ending the crisis in the country.
In a statement issued the day after the SADC Summit Tsvangirai said: "For the record, in today's meeting it had been agreed that all the Zimbabwean principals would recuse themselves to allow an open and unfettered dialogue to take place amongst the SADC leaders. However, Mr Mugabe refused and the Chairman of SADC did not tell him to leave. Thus, Mr Mugabe became a judge in his own case."
"I would like to put out that the failure to consummate and implement the Global Political Agreement means that there is no legitimacy on any government or any person purporting to be Head of State. In short, Mr Mugabe is not the President of Zimbabwe without this agreement."
"Given this dangerous and precarious situation and the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe, we hope and pray that the guarantors of the agreement, in particular progressive members of SADC and the African Union, will now move very quickly to try and salvage this agreement."
MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told us that no names had been submitted to Robert Mugabe for inclusion in the government, and said the party was busy planning and preparing for this week's meeting with the National Executive Council, to deliberate on the outcome of the SADC summit.
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Mr Patriotic,the better option is left with Mugabe.He has been given defense then why is he bent on home affairs?People should stop sweeping the truth under the carpet and stop blaming MDC.If Mugabe has the people at heart as you are claiming, he should have sorted out this problem just after signing the agreement.You know and I know that ZANU-PF are not ready to share power with anybody so it is a shame SADC leaders who claim to rule over decent citizens in that part of Africa cannot see through ZANU-PF.Disgraceful!!!!One thing I have observed is that SA is a… [Read Full Text]
When you want to solve a problem, between twp parties, one of them has to be level headed, otherwise there is no solution. We already know that ZanuPF does not have the interest of the people at heart and therefore should not expect statesmanship from them. The burden of statemanship is with MDC as the party with the people's mandate.
It doesn't really matter what the MDC decides. The Zimbabwean people will soon be forced to make decisions and they better make the right ones, or more of them will die.
So, just for clarity's sake, here are the decisions you need to make, seeing as you're obviously still confused:
1. Give back all the stuff you took from the white man
2. Install a government that listens to the west
3. Don't try to pass laws that "empower" people
4. Be very quiet and be thankful you're allowed to live
Signed
The West
Johnj, Geez that's a pretty scarey picture you paint there mate! Steady steady now and tone it down an itty bit, to just raping women and or men, murdering and burning beaten bodies in the bush,stuff like that! Be careful you dont scare the children,huh.
Johnj, You want to take the middle lane? There is nothing like a middle lane here, you are either with us or against us. PERIOD. You cannot have it both ways my man. You cannot fool anyone with that sarcastic picture you paint. You have scared the hell out of Awt_independent and Kazt but you do not move me an inch by what you say. Although I agree with you on your itemised points, I do not believe you mean what you are say.
Johnj, nice try, but no thanks! You sound like Mugabe's CIO men/women who are good at dirty tricks.
WATCH OUT for this character JohnJ - I think that he is a Trojan Horse sent in to stir up trouble. Best to ignore him all together.
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I hope as patriotic Zimbabweans the MDC National Executive will not react in the same emotional manner as their leader. It was an insult and politically and diplomatically immature for Tsvangirayi to suggest that SADC made a decision based on a bias towards one of the parties. While it is his right to disagree with the decision of SADC he has to respect it as a multinational decision that is a mere recommendation that has no legal force on a sovereign state like Zimbabwe. It is up to Zimbabweans to accept or reject the decision. In making their decision… [Read Full Text]