Makoni, who was previously seen as a possible bridge between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, was notably absent from a ceremony on Monday to sign a deal to begin two weeks of intensive talks.
“I cannot explain my absence from that signing ceremony,” the former finance
minister told South African public radio, saying “many Zimbabweans” believed
his movement should have a role in both the current talks and the future of
the country.
“I feel it is sad that we are not involved at this stage. But this is only
the beginning, there is more to come and we believe that we will make our
contribution in that more to come.”
Despite his exclusion, Makoni described the memorandum of understanding
signed in Harare as “a promising start.”
“I think the key factor here is how serious, honest and genuine are people
at solving the country’s problems together. We hope that they genuinely mean
they wish to work together,” he said.
Makoni infuriated Mugabe when he decided to run as an independent in the
first round of voting on March 29.
He trailed in third with around eight percent of votes and was not a
candidate in a second round last month which saw Mugabe re-elected after
Tsvangirai withdrew in protest at attacks on his supporters.