There has been confusion, accusations and counter accusations between the rival parties in the coalition government over a controversial GPA letter written by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara to President Zuma, regarding governors and sanctions.

Speaking on this week's Hot Seat programme, the Deputy Prime Minister told SW Radio Africa that he was mandated to write two letters, one on June 8 and another on 5 August, to SADC appointed facilitator and South African President Jacob Zuma on behalf of the Principals, prior to the recent SADC summit in Namibia.

Mutambara claims the documents sent to Zuma, which were presented to the SADC Troika, were fully endorsed by the other two principals, Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe.

He said the documents stated that the rival parties had agreed to implement 24 out of 27 outstanding issues and that the only three issues that were still to be resolved were to do with the appointments of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, Attorney General Johannes Tomana and MDC-T official Roy Bennett.

Mutambara said the Principals agreed that: "All other agreed positions must be implemented simultaneously and concurrently. This was meant to make sure that we don't put conditions on each other."

He said Mugabe was not moving on the issue of governors, so to encourage him to implement what was agreed upon, the three Principals agreed 'to say the implementation of the formula on governors would be carried out simultaneously and concurrently with the collective efforts towards the removal of sanctions'.

But recent comments from both ZANU PF and the MDC-T show that the political parties are still worlds apart on issues to do with the implementation of the Global Political Agreement.

Soon after reports of the letter to Zuma emerged, ZANU PF insisted it will only appoint the governors after the targeted sanctions imposed by western governments are removed. Meanwhile the MDC-T denies endorsing such an agreement.

However Mutambara accuses ZANU PF and the MDC-T of being 'economical with the truth' regarding the agreement reached about the appointment of governors and the removal of the targeted sanctions.

"Chinamasa (ZANU PF Justice Minister) is lying when he is saying sanctions must be removed before governors are appointed. That is not the understanding."

Mutambara added: "The MDC-T, where is their spin? Where is their lie? It is when they say there was never a link when their Principal is part of the document that went to Zuma that says 'we as Principals are going to work collectively on the removal of sanctions and link it to the governors'."

The Deputy Prime Minister also alleged that some Ministers (MDC-T) are urging western leaders in private meetings to keep the sanctions in place, in violation of their political agreement.

However, at a launch of a new party card in Harare on Friday, Prime Minister Tsvangirai told guests and supporters that 'the reluctance by some to abide by the commitments to which they had agreed in September 2008 is threatening the future of the nation'.

He said: "The issue of Provincial Governors is a prime example of this. The formula for the allocation of the Governors was agreed by the negotiators based on the results of the election. It is for this reason that the MDC was awarded five Governors as a reflection of our mandate from the people. To then artificially link the allocation of Governors to the issue of restrictive measures is a blatant attempt to undermine the GPA, the inclusive Government and the will of the people."

MDC-T spokesperson Nelson Chamisa also said Tsvangirai had never agreed to the concurrent implementation of governors and removal sanctions.

The spokesperson said: "Sanctions are an external issue and beyond our control, whereas the issue of appointing governors is an internal event that is within our control."

Chamisa pointed out that if the Deputy Prime Minister claims he wrote this letter on behalf of the Principals, then obviously all the Principals should have agreed to the contents.

Asked to comment on allegations that some Ministers were lobbying western leaders, in private, to keep the sanctions in place, Chamisa responded by saying: "Professor Mutambara likes shooting and at times shoots in the wrong direction."

In a related issue, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that the MDC-T has written an official letter protesting to the SADC secretariat over 'the alleged watering down of the SADC communiqué, the blocking of debate on Zimbabwe in the just ended full summit, and the implementation of a roadmap to free and fair elections in Zimbabwe'.