This comes after they received information
that Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he
is satisfied with the current negotiations in South Africa’s capital,
Pretoria. The residents say there is need for a transitional government to
organize and ensure a free and fair vote in a couple of years after its
formation.
South African President Thabo Mbeki is mediating negotiations between the
opposition MDC and the ruling ZANU-PF party aimed at resolving Zimbabwe’s
economic and political crisis. Busani Ncube is the logistics director for
the Bulawayo project, a non-governmental organization. From Zimbabwe’s
commercial capital, Bulawayo, he tells reporter Peter Clottey that some
Zimbabweans are cautiously optimistic about the ongoing peace talks.
“It is very refreshing for Zimbabweans to hear the negotiators saying the
process is going on very well, especially, when it comes from the
opposition, and it comes from Morgan Tsvangirai himself. It is good to hear
that, but again it is too early for ordinary Zimbabweans to celebrate
because as you know, that there is a media blackout and we don’t know
exactly what they are discussing. And if they are saying they are proceeding
very well, we don’t know what is well. But with Tsvangirai we would have to
hope that they mean well for the people of Zimbabwe,” Ncube noted.
He concurs that calls by the leader of opposition for President Mugabe to
step aside in a recent interview is in good taste.
“I don’t think that if Tsvangirai is saying the talks are going very well
and they mean that Mugabe will remain the helm of government, Mugabe remains
the state president. I don’t think I will describe that as well because as
long as you have Mugabe in the leadership, in whatever position, but still
the head, there is no well in the talks because I don’t think that is what
the Zimbabweans want,” he said.
Ncube said Zimbabweans want to do away with old ways of running the country
and bring in fresh hands to deal with the current crisis.
“Zimbabweans want a new set of leadership, even if it is transitional. I
don’t think they now need a name called Mugabe,” Ncube pointed out.
He welcomes the opposition’s rejection of a proposal by the ruling party in
the peace negotiations for the creation of several vice presidential
positions.
“That is a very good move by the opposition. When the talks started, we said
we were very skeptical about Mugabe’s intentions. We believed that he was
only asking the opposition and the opposition asking ZANU-PF to come up with
its lists of demands, and the proposal that came from ZANU-PF shows that
Mugabe’s intention was to swallow the opposition. And surely we cannot be
creating vice presidents anytime there is a crisis. And when there are
negotiations, we solve that by creating vice presidents,” he said.
Ncube said there was need to have one vice president in Zimbabwe’s
government.
“In fact we need only one vice president in the country, not the three vice
presidents to appease the people. We would end up with having about 10 vice
presidents, and this is not what Zimbabweans want. Zimbabweans do not want
Mugabe to lead the government,” Ncube noted.
By Peter Clottey
Washington, D.C.