It was agreed at the meeting that the negotiators should go back to their political parties to seek a mandate for the resumption of the negations. It was formally agreed that the negotiators should meet again on Wednesday 2nd July 2008 to report back to each other on whether or not they would have been granted the said mandate.
The MDC Management Committee met on Wednesday morning 2 July 2008 and formally mandated its negotiators to return to the negotiating table and seek to negotiate political settlement that would bring an end to the national crisis.
The negotiators from the two MDC formations and ZANU PF dully met on the evening of Wednesday 2 July 2008 whereat the ZANU PF negotiors reported that they had been mandated by their party to proceed with the negotiations and we also reported on the mandate given by the management committee.
MDC Morgan Tsvangirai reported that Mr Tsvangirai and President Mbeki had had a telephone conversation during which they had agreed, at the request of Mr Tsvangirai, that the facilitator should organize a meeting between President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai before the negotiators could resume formal dialogue. The informal meeting was further advised that President Mbeki was in the process of organizing such a meeting and therefore the negotiators had to await the holding of that meeting. This position was later confirmed to us by the South African facilitators.
On the evening of Friday the 4th of July 2008 the facilitator advised that President Mugabe, President Mbeki and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai had since agreed to a meeting of the three principals, namely the Presidents of the three political parties represented in Parliament, and that the meeting had been set for the 5 of July 2008 at 3pm at the Zimbabwe House. We were requested to ensure that our President and our negotiators are present at that meeting. At the appointed time, President Mutambara, Secretary General Professor Ncube and Deputy Secretary General Priscilla Misihairabwi- Mushonga presented themselves at Zimbabwe House as requested by the mediator. After the appointed time had lapsed, they were advised that Mr Tsvangirai had indicated that he was no longer coming to the meeting as he had reached an agreement with Mr Ping of the African Union Head Quarters, that the meeting should be cancelled until such a time that the African Union had appointed a special envoy to Zimbabwe to assist President Mbeki with mediation. We were also advised that MDC -T negotiators namely Secretary General Tendai Biti and Deputy Treasurer General Elton Mangoma had presented themselves at the South African Ambassador’s residence for a negotiating meeting at 14 30 hours which they had been asked to attend by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai. As a result it was agreed that the meeting could not proceed in the absence of Mr Tsvangirai and his negotiators.
The facilitator undertook to continue consultations with both MDC formations and the African Union to resolve the misunderstanding over the appointment of an African Union envoy to Zimbabwe.
Edwin Mushoriwa
Secretary for Information and Publity