Plans to form a unity government by the end of next week are back on track after negotiators from ZANU PF and the MDC reportedly agreed on the composition of the National Security Council.

The plans were derailed on Wednesday when Parliament postponed debate on constitutional changes to create a Prime Minister post for Morgan Tsvangirai. This apparently followed a fresh dispute that erupted on Tuesday when ZANU PF negotiators failed to attend a consultation meeting with the MDC to finalise outstanding issues.

The MDC accused ZANU PF of backtracking on the unity deal when its negotiators said they had no mandate from their leader to discuss issues on the table, mainly the composition of the NSC and the allocation of posts for provincial governors.

The NSC replaces the Joint Operations Command (JOC), a highly influential and controversial body that is chaired by Robert Mugabe and comprises the commanders of the Army, Airforce, Police, Prison services and the Central Intelligence Organisation. Many observers believe it is the military commanders who were actually running the affairs of the country.

The MDC was seeking to dilute the powers of JOC by seeking to establish the NSC that includes senior members from the two MDC's. We could not establish how far the ZANU PF negotiators agreed to meet demands from the MDC on the composition of this new body.

MDC chief whip Innocent Gonese told us it was 'very likely' that the Bill will be tabled in Parliament if the negotiators resolve the issues by Wednesday.

"As a matter of fact, there was an announcement that all MP's and senators should come to parliament tomorrow (Thursday). We anticipate there is some positive development which might result in the Bill being tabled in the House tomorrow," Gonese said.

The negotiators, meeting under the guidance of the South African facilitation team are also expected to agree on the modalities and formula for the distribution of governors. This will pave the way for the introduction of Constitutional Amendment number 19 in Parliament, probably on Thursday. A source told us the only question remaining on the allocation of governors was how many posts will each party get.

Initially, Mugabe had appointed all the 10 governors from ZANU PF in a clear violation of the Global Political Agreement. But in a humiliating climb down, after repeatedly vowing not to go back on the issue of governors, Mugabe agreed to share the posts following pressure from SADC leaders.

Regional leaders who met last week managed to persuade Mugabe and Tsvangirai to break their deadlock. In so doing they called for a unity government to be in place by 13th February.