THE Chinese say 2010 is the year of the tiger -- an animal considered to be the king of all beasts in Asia.

The tiger represents power or energy. It is also an unpredictable animal in the cat family.

Some of its instincts can symbolically be equated to certain traits exhibited by the country's main political parties in the on-going negotiations to end the squabbling in the coalition government formed in February last year.

But will the principals in the power-sharing agreement emulate a tiger and use their sublime skills and energy to thrash out, once and for all, all the issues bedeviling the unity government?

"ZANU-PF ended the year 2009 on a somewhat intriguing note given the internal strife that was shown at its congress in December," said Trevor Maisiri, a political analyst.

"In that light, 2010 is likely to be a year that those who are bold and courageous in ZANU-PF maybe counting the cost of the party's failure to renew its top leadership. This will bring internal discontent and increase the intensity of the power struggles we have seen emerging in the past," he added.

In the run-up to the ZANU-PF congress held in December last year, factions within the party were at each other's throats as they battled to influence the composition of the presidium.

The Manicaland provin-ce complicated the internal fissures in ZANU-PF when it unveiled the party's secretary for administration, Didymus Mutasa, as its preferred candidate for the post of national chairman.

Mutasa's failed attempt to seek nomination into the presidium was seen as a clear sign that some party cadres were against a "gentlemen's agreement" reach-ed between President Robert Mugabe and the late vice-president, Joshua Nko-mo in 1987, which reserved the national chairmanship for cadres in the former PF-ZAPU through the Unity Accord.

Basil Nyabadza was forced to resign in a huff as the ZANU-PF chairperson for Manicaland citing failure to deliver the party's chairmanship to his province.

As if his resignation was not enough evidence of friction within the party, President Mugabe had to delay the appointment of politburo members at congress due to the sharp differences that were along tribal and factional lines.

The usual whipping system used to enforce consensus within the party prevailed at the congress, but not without causalities.

Maisiri said Zimbabwe-ans, especially Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) supporters, should brace themselves for the return of former information minister, Jonathan Moyo, who was re-admitted into ZANU-PF last year after his dismissal about five years ago.

Moyo, a fine wordsmith with a penchant of abusing his critics in the MDC in long-worded installments in the State media, is seen cranking up ZANU-PF's propaganda war against Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his allies in the former opposition.

"But I see the MDC continuing to compromise on some unfulfilled issues in the GNU (Gove-rnment of Nat-ional Unity), hoping they can also buy time to the next election, which they are hopeful can bring them victory," he said. "They are also unlikely to disengage from the GNU as they have gained so-me valuable space and insi-ght, which is critical for anch-oring their participation in the next election."

Maisiri said the MDC would, however, continue to play second fiddle to ZANU-PF as far as dictating the pace in the security ministries is concerned.

Takura Zhangazha, another political analyst, viewed 2010 as a watershed year for the country in relation to the presence of the two MDC formations in the coalition.

"This is beca-use the year is intended to show which pol-itical party has the capacity to out-do the other . . .," said Zhangazha. "I see the three principals continuing with their contestations for power in the inclusive government. Some issues will be resolved while others will remain under continued negotiations."

Zhangazha said the battle for power amo-ng the political parties will not stop the inclusive government from functioning.

He, however, said it would be difficult for the generality of the population to see the difference between ZANU-PF and the two MDCs as they seem to have gotten the hang of a shared governmental respo-nsibility.

"Civil society shall be increasingly co-opted into these governmental proce-sses especially with regard to the constitutional reform. The year 2010 is far from being the year of the tiger for Zimbabwe. If the metaphor is meant to mean bravery, I don't see that in the principals. It will be normal, but not spectacular."

ZANU-PF and the MDC are deadlocked over outstanding issues, which include the reversal of senior government appointments; the delays in the appointment of provincial governors as per a formula agreed by the three principals last year; the refusal by President Mugabe to swear in MDC-T national treasurer, Roy Bennett, as the deputy minister of agriculture; the failure by the MDC-T to cause the removal of targeted sanctions; and the disbandment of foreign radio stations that beam into Zimbabwe as well as the alleged foreign interference in Zimbabwe's internal politics by Britain and its allies.

Out of the 21 outstanding issues on the table of the chief negotiators from the three parties, 15 have reportedly been settled.

John Makumbe, a fiery critic of President Mugabe, said Zimbabwe should expect more of the same.

"The usual shenanigans will continue with ZANU-PF continuing with its old tricks. The leopard does not change its spots remember," said Makumbe. "But I see some movement as far as the constitutional making process is concerned."

On Monday 560 commissioners selected for the drafting on the country's new constitution were trained on how to conduct outreach programmes, which kicks off later in the week.

Makumbe added: "Corruption will continue with the principals doing nothing about it as it appears it's (the) normal way of doing things."

South African President, Jacob Zuma, the facilitator of the talks to end the political stalemate in Zimbabwe, is said to be anxious to end tensions in the inclusive government as his country prepares to host Africa's first soccer World Cup in June.

Last week Southern African Development Community foreign ministers expressed concern at the slow pace of the implementation of the Global Political Agreement signed in September 2008.

Some hardliners in ZANU-PF are understood to be strongly opposed to further concessions to the MDC unless and until targeted sanctions slammed on the veteran nationalist and other party loyalists were removed.

The European Union and its allies in the West put sanctions on President Mugabe and others in ZANU-PF citing alleged electoral irregularities and human right abuses between 2000 and 2005.