President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai – now Prime Minister-designate – signed the deal setting up a coalition government on Monday midday after seven weeks of often bitter negotiations punctuated by mudslinging and ultimatums.
There are however fears that the new coalition government is fragile and could still break apart if deeper constitutional reforms are not enacted quickly.
It’s like an egg at the moment, University of Zimbabwe political science professor John Makumbe said. The stuff inside the deal is very good, but the shell is very fragile, so let’s hope it doesn’t get dropped.
The two men had come under huge pressure from world powers and Zimbabwe’s 11.9 million people to find a solution to forestall more bloodshed and help staunch economic hemorrhaging that has seen official inflation skyrocket to 11 million percent.
As word of the deal spread, overjoyed residents danced, sang and ululated in the streets, while messages of praise and offers of help flooded in from overseas.
Diplomatic sources said Britain was preparing to host a donors’ conference to raise funds to help Zimbabwe’s economy. But there was need for goodwill from Mugabe himself.
European Union foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday also issued a statement saying: The EU stands ready to adopt a set of economic support measures and measures to support a transitional government.
Said the diplomat: We’d be prepared in London to host a donors’ conference to make sure Zimbabwe has the best chance to build upon this power-sharing agreement, to get the economy moving again.
He was however quick to point out that if western nations are to give the billions required to rebuild Zimbabwe’s shattered economy, they will first need convincing that Tsvangirai was really in charge and that Mugabe was not simply using him as a front man to give a veneer of respectability to a vile regime.
The diplomat took great exception to Mugabe’s bombastic speech at the signing ceremony, where he railed against British imperialism, blaming the former colonial power for Zimbabwe’s economic implosion and making gratuitous digs at an opposition which wants much more than it deserves.
Such belligerent rhetoric is not helpful and does not open the strings to the donor purses so desperately needed to resolve this crisis, personally authored by President Mugabe, said the diplomat.
UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said: “What matters now is not just the words in the agreement, but the way it functions and the actions the new government takes on the ground. We hope that the new government will reverse the tragic policies and decline of recent years.”
South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, who brokered the power-sharing deal, said SADC stood ready to immediately mobilize financial resources required to bankroll Zimbabwe’s agricultural season to avert another disastrous season.
“We have to ensure as the region and continent that we extend a hand to help the people of Zimbabwe, Mbeki said. We must get the seed, fertiliser, fuel and
implements as a matter of urgency.”
Secretary general of the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Father Fradereck Chiromba said one of the immediate challenges is getting food to people.
There is a great need to provide basic food aid as people are coping with a bad harvest and of course the country’s dire economic situation, Fr Chiromba said. There are also no medicines in the hospitals, doctors do not even have aspirins to give out and there is the situation of the three million or so Zimbabweans living in neighbouring countries.
A US State Department spokesman applauded the deal, adding: “We want to see this agreement implemented.”
He said Washington would be watching carefully and Zimbabweans who promoted bloodshed still faced U.S. visa bans. Domestic and international human rights groups also warned against impunity for perpetrators of political violence.
The International Monetary Fund has said it stands ready to discuss with the new authorities their policies to stabilize the economy, improve social conditions, and reduce poverty. The IMF’s Strauss-Kahn said the new government needed to show it was willing to implement credible policies to put the economy on sounder footing.
“I encourage the government to take steps to show clear commitment to a new policy direction and to seek the support of the international community,” he added.
The deal was a major breakthrough for mediator Mbeki, who had shuttled between Harare and Pretoria to breathe life into the stalled negotiations that almost ended in frustration. Under the deal, a new prime minister’s position has been created for Tsvangirai. The deal also allocates 31 cabinet posts based on each party’s total number of votes clinched in the March 29 poll and creates two deputy prime ministers’ jobs, one for each side of the MDC factions.
The leader of the small MDc faction Prof Arthur Mutambara is ythe new deputy Prime Minister while Thokozani Khupe, the main MDC vice president, becomes second Prime Minister.
Mugabe’s party still has the largest number of Cabinet seats, with 15 while Tsvangirai has 13 and Mutambara 3.
Later, there will be a full review of the country’s constitution, a 28-year-old document which many Zimbabweans have pushed to change since the 2000 because it awards the president almost unchecked authority over the affairs of state.
Many Zimbabweans want a new charter to help resolve deep rifts over land and the economy that is in the worst shape since independence from Britain in 1980.
Mugabe has ordered Parliament to meet next week to pass a constitutional amendment to push through the changes. Talks to allocate ministers for Zimbabwe’s power-sharing government began on Tuesday.
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