SW Radio Africa (London)
Tichaona Sibanda
3 April 2009
Outstanding issues that should have been resolved at the formation of the inclusive government, such as the swearing in of provincial governors and the appointment of permanent secretaries and ambassadors, will be finalized next week, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said on Friday.
In his opening remarks at the start of a three day government retreat at the resort town of Victoria Falls, Tsvangirai also told cabinet ministers, their deputies and permanent secretaries that the appointments of Gideon Gono as Governor of the Reserve Bank and Johannes Tomana as Attorney General, will be revisited.
Robert Mugabe officially opened the conference. He said the success of the economic recovery of Zimbabwe rests on the performance and delivery of the inclusive government and it's commitment to the global political agreement, signed among the country's three major political parties.
His statement was echoed by Tsvangirai who said as defined by both the GPA and the constitution, the issues of governors and ambassadors must be resolved by the leadership, which comprises the President, Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers.
'This body will meet in the coming week to address the outstanding issues which include, but are not limited to, the ongoing land disputes and disruption of agricultural activities,' he added.
The issue of Gono has even been raised in Washington where, following a meeting of the G20 group on March 20th, they issued a statement urging the inclusive government to 'take additional steps to demonstrate its commitment to reform such as ... the establishment of a credible and transparent central bank team.'
Tsvangirai also reminded his audience of this need when he told them the priorities of the new government 'remain democratization, stabilization and addressing the humanitarian crisis that afflicts our people.'
'Most importantly, this new political dispensation has delivered hope to a country devoid of optimism and expectation. However, if we are to move forward with the speed that the people demand and deserve, we must acknowledge and address some of the elements that are obstructing the full implementation of the GPA,' according to Tsvangirai.
Political analyst Isaac Dziya said as long as Tsvangirai's message could be translated into action, the international community might take note and change it's attitude towards the government. Prospective international donors have insisted that a return to the rule of law and other key requirements, must be fulfilled by the inclusive government if any aid is to be injected into the country.
'There is pressure from all quarters for the government to reform. I think it is clear to all those in government that aid will not be forthcoming as long as there are no democratic reforms,' Dziya said.
Irene Petras, the executive director of the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, told us on Wednesday that although there has been some movement in trying to bring change, she couldn't say the same with the democratization process.
'We still have a lot of concerns as far as the rule of law is concerned, people still cannot gather as a group and the media hasn't been opened up yet,' Petras said.
But Gorden Moyo, the Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, told a meeting of civic leaders that the Zimbabwe Media Commission (ZMC) and the Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission will be in place before month-end.
This is part of the implementation of the GPA which also calls for the formation of a new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and an Anti-Corruption Commission. It is hoped the setting up of the ZMC would speed up the opening of the media, to allow new and independent players to enter the industry, that has been choked by repressive laws put in place by the ZANU-PF government.
The ZMC is expected to lead the process of media reform, but most importantly its job should be to register new media houses. NewsDay, a proposed daily newspaper project by Zimbabwe Independent and the Standard newspapers owner Trevor Ncube, is ready to register and is already in the process of recruiting staff.
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