Hwange — Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai yesterday defied a police ban and addressed thousands of his supporters for the first time since he was prevented from campaigning in Matabeleland North ahead of the ill-fated June 2008 presidential run-off poll.

The last time Tsvangirai tried to campaign in the province two years ago he was detained in Lupane for several hours.

Police seized his armoured BMW X5 and despite leading from the first round of the presidential poll two months earlier, Tsvangirai was forced to withdraw from the runoff.

The car is still gathering dust at the Lupane police station amid allegations that the South African businessman who donated it to Tsvangirai's presidential campaign violated the country's import regulations.

President Robert Mugabe ran alone in the poll but his victory was rejected even by his traditional allies in Africa forcing him into a unity government with the former trade unionist.

Assistant Commissioner Edmo-re Veterai, the officer commanding Matabeleland North police has been accused of having a vendetta against MDC-T.

On Friday, police refused to sanction Tsvangirai's "real change" rally at Old Lwendulo Grounds saying they could not provide adequate manpower as some officers were busy with constitution outreach meetings and a meeting of regional ministers in Victoria Falls, about 100 km from Hwange.

But the MDC-T leader who was leading a high-powered delegation proceeded to the venue of the rally after a closed marathon meeting to tackle problems bedeviling the party's provincial executive.

Tsvangirai told his supporters that Zanu PF was not committed to power sharing and continued to throw spanners in the works of the inclusive government.

He said Mugabe continued to do things unilaterally despite committing himself to sharing some of his excessive executive powers.

"It is like a marriage that has roots but things happening behind closed doors are not seen by many," Tsvangirai said. "The inclusive government has problems.

"Our partners in the coalition government should be committed to what we agreed. At the moment they are not."

Mugabe and Tsvangirai are currently at loggerheads over the veteran ruler's unilateral reshuffle of the country's diplomats, which the MDC formations have said violated the GPA.

Despite reports that the three governing parties have narrowed the list of outstanding issues in the GPA from around 27 to just three, Tsvangirai said new problems kept cropping up.

"There are things that we agreed should be done. There are agreements that we made on several issues," he said.

"Some of the things are done unilaterally without having even the courtesy of informing other partners in the agreement. We wonder why these things are happening that way."

He said some of Mugabe's unilateral decisions did not only violate the GPA but also the country's constitution.

On elections expected next year, Tsvangirai said the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) and the Afrcan Union (AU) - the guarantors of the GPA - must put in place a monitoring mechanism to ensure Zimbabwe holds a free and fair poll.

"We have presented the problems that are currently facing Zimbabwe to South African President Jacob Zuma as the mediator," he said.

"What we are saying now is that Sadc and the AU must now establish a permanent commission in Zimbabwe where they will monitor the situation until an election is conducted."

The PM said his party wanted the commission to be in place at least six months after the election is held.

"We are not only saying that commission should be in place before the election and then leave after that.

"We expect it to be in place even six months after that election has been conducted so that it safeguards the government that will be in power after the elections," he added.

Zimbabwe will hold elections soon after a new constitution is in place but there is still debate on the appropriate time for the poll.

But the Prime Minister said he was confident "forces of doom" in the inclusive government would not reverse the gains made by the coalition so far as the country was on the road to democracy.