SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
7 January 2009
Will they or won't they? Only the top leadership of the MDC who are meeting in Johannesburg have the answer to this four month-long guessing game that has kept Zimbabweans on tenterhooks, since talks to form a new government stalled last year.
All eyes are now fixed on the 'no holds barred' meeting between Morgan Tsvangirai and his top strategists and transition team, which is going on in South Africa to decide whether the MDC should join a unity government with arch-enemy Robert Mugabe.
A source told us the indaba would also discuss the humanitarian crisis and human rights situation in the country, before taking a final decision.
The meeting would try to hammer out a consensus on the strategy to be adopted, if they were to join an inclusive government. They are expected to draft a second strategy if they decide against joining. It's believed that whatever is decided would have to be approved by the MDC's national council - the party's top decision making body.
Another source said the three day meeting has to take tough decisions on how far it could go in its opposition to joining the government, amid growing apprehension among party activists of Mugabe's threats to call for an early election. Mugabe uses the military to run his election campaigns and there are fears that another election with Mugabe still controlling this apparatus will be just as bloody as the last election.
By joining a unity government, Tsvangirai as Prime Minister will be the deputy chair in a newly constituted National Security Council (NSC), taking over from the Joint Operations Command. Currently JOC comprises military commanders with strong links to Mugabe and ZANU PF. But the NSC would have more civilians from all parties. Some party leaders believe this would dilute the power Mugabe has wielded in the JOC.
'The meeting will review the chain of events on the controversial agreement since 15th September with ZANU PF and is expected to chart out its strategy to deal with the situation. These talks are timely and important. Whatever decision is going to come out of this meeting has a huge bearing on the political landscape in Zimbabwe,' our source said.
Meanwhile reports say Tsvangirai has urged South African President Kgalema Motlanthe to arrange and mediate a confidential meeting between himself and Mugabe, in an effort to solve the long-stalled power-sharing agreement signed in September 2008.
Tsvangirai has said he wanted renewed talks on the power-sharing deal but underscored that such talks should be under the chairmanship of Motlanthe, amid reports that SADC leaders are urging Tsvangirai to return to Harare for such a meeting.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2009 SW Radio Africa. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
More toxic claptrap from the West African soupist supreme, Schizophrenic, bi-polar Slyvia Blyden. Little, naughty girl, why don't you learn how to write? Much better than being a soupist goalpost, don't you 'think'?
Anyway, ghoulish crap, all the same.
Your Waterloo awaits in Harare.
Whenever I see a post with the author as Shallowhead, I immediately now skip over it and dont waste my time reading it. I suggest others do the same. He never makes any sense, fails in his vain attempt to confuse and seem intelligent. He continually invents words and uses other words out of context. He believes that the beating of a 2 year old in police detention is ok, and on this basis has no moral standing. He also craves the attention of people trying to discuss things with him, except he will never answer any questions proposed to him, or debate things in a logical or reasonable manner. He will also call you every name under the sun and focus all his points on your spelling and grammar, instead of the intention of the post. He is also trying to clutter up these pages with his meaningless dribble (just read any of his posts to see what I mean) to take the focus away from the issues at hand. He believes that it is more important to have a post written correctly, than to include substance in a post. He is a true example of why you should never argue with an idiot. He will only bring you down to his level and beat you with experience. I suggest you dont waste your time. There's none so deaf as those who will not listen, and shallowhead fits quite firmly into this category. There is surely a village somewhere missing its idiot.
Gutter discourse; and ,beyond that, dazzling rubbish.
What a pathetic rhodie!
Jallohlaw I am sure your pathetic and poor comments only show your limited abilities to contribute anything worth noting. I have every reason to suspect that your childhood was seriously disturbed so much that you could have gone to school in a probation institution. Further comments about your confusion might further militate against your ability to reason in a conventional manner. Do you honestly think your contributions serve any useful purposes?
Cry rhodie baby, what a humbug question? Constructive CRAPPY DISCOURSE my earlobe! Mendacious rhodie, tail of Osama bin MT, do you think we have time for YOUR foggy discourses; your NONSENSE, THE NONSENSE OF MUGABE THIS, MUGABE THAT, OINK, OINK, OINK.
RHODIE, your opinion is unadorned humbug, n'est pas, Herr. rhodie sham rectitude.
CHEERS FROM THE CITY OF WORD WARRIORS, HARARE.
How many more people have to loose their lives while people at the top are making up their minds???