SW Radio Africa (London)
Lance Guma
19 November 2008
Zimbabwe's power sharing talks entered a new frontier of disagreement Tuesday after it appeared that both ZANU PF and the MDC had a different approach to the drafting of constitutional amendment 19.
Under September's power sharing deal Mugabe remains President while Tsvangirai takes up the newly created post of Prime Minister. That agreement however needs to be made into law and constitutional amendment 19 is meant to do that. The state media initially reported that a government legal drafting team was on the verge of completing a draft document for both parties to scrutinize and approve.
But on Tuesday evening MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Newsreel they would reject any draft ZANU PF drew up on its own. They argue that since it was an inter-party agreement the drafting had to be done jointly. Later in the evening reports surfaced suggesting the government had already forwarded their draft amendment to all the parties involved. It was also reported that negotiators Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma from the Tsvangirai MDC would meet Welshman Ncube, Priscillah Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the Mutambara faction and Nicholas Goche and Patrick Chinamasa from ZANU PF on Thursday.
On Wednesday afternoon however the Tsvangirai MDC said they had not seen the constitutional amendment draft. A news agency report quoted Tendai Biti saying, 'We don't have it. Even if they say constitutional amendment number 19 is complete, there are a number of issues which are still outstanding.' Information Minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu meanwhile was telling journalists they had also sent the amendment to former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been mediating talks between the two sides.
The MDC responded with a statement saying, 'as far as we are concerned, the draft that has been sent to Mbeki is a Zanu PF document with Zanu PF perspectives. Our draft is also ready and will be sent to Mbeki for consideration. The final Bill to be tabled before parliament should be inclusive of the three main political parties' views.'
Although the MDC had said the amendment was a sticking point, they are also not happy with the allocation of Cabinet portfolios, the distribution of provincial governors' posts, the composition of a proposed national security council and the appointment of permanent secretaries and ambassadors. They say their participation in the unity government will depend on the resolution of all these issues and not just amendment 19, as falsely reported by the state media.
On Tuesday Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told journalists the MDC had to join the government first before the amendment was passed. He argued that the MDC had been given the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs under the power sharing deal and should be driving the process of getting the amendment through. But he conceded that most of the ZANU PF ministers had lost their parliamentary seats and in essence the current cabinet was temporary and could not drive the process through legally.
Nelson Chamisa, speaking for the Tsvangirai MDC, described Ndlovu's argument as, 'sterile and fallacious' because the amendment would be deliberated on by members of parliament and not ministers. It now looks like ZANU PF and the MDC are producing their own versions of the draft amendment 19 and will send both these versions to Mbeki, SADC and the African Union for consideration.
Of concern to suffering Zimbabweans will be the length of time the process will take. Under the country's laws a constitutional amendment will only be taken to Parliament after being gazetted and debated in public for 30 days. Mugabe is expected to take his annual leave around the 7th December. The last parliamentary sitting is set for the 16th December and the house will only reconvene towards the end of January. So the crisis can be expected to drag on until at least February 2009.
Newsreel asked Chamisa if they were worried about this delay. He told us the party was extremely concerned about the people's suffering but that the problem in dealing with ZANU PF who had a 'chequered past' was that they had to be cautions. 'If you decide to kiss a thief, you have to count all your teeth and protect them from getting stolen.' He said it was no use being 'stampeded' into an agreement that would never last. 'It's better to allow a gestation period for the agreement to grow than to have it suffer an abortion,' he added.
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Both Zanu PF & MDC T are not really serious about what they are doing. The situation is getting dire and desparate by the second and all these muppets are focusing on are their own interests. Why not put your differences aside and put the country first. Why would both parties argue over the Home Affairs ministry when the Health & Education systems are the crucial areas that need rescuing.
Mr Mugabe & Mr Tsvangirai for the first time make decisions that will rescue the nation from the jaws of disaster. whilist deliberating can you please think of an old lady in Mukumbura desparately looking after her 5 grandchildren orphaned by HIV. She needs you to give her hope. Zimbabwe is for the Ndebeles, Manyika's, Shonas and many others and not just the 2 of you. I do not understand why both of you holding the country at ransome. It is time for you to stand and make decisions for the people of Zimbabwe and not Zanu or MDC.
Disgruntled Zim