Tsvangirai – sounding more defiant than ever before – said it was better for his MDC party to pull out of power-sharing talks with the ruling ZANU PF party than accept a deal that would leave the status quo untouched with Mugabe still entitled to his current wide-sweeping powers as head of state and government.
Mugabe must be head of state and Tsvangirai head of government, without that I will not sign, Tsvangirai told a rally to celebrate the MDC’s ninth anniversary in the city of Gweru in central Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai promised not to bow to pressure from talks mediator South African President Thabo Mbeki to sign a draft deal that has been endorsed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) but which the MDC leader has rejected saying it would make him a ceremonial prime minister in a government of national unity.
Mbeki is coming but be rest assured he is not the one who is going to sign, said Tsvangirai, adding: We would rather have no deal than have a bad deal.
Mbeki, who is the SADC’s chief mediator in the Zimbabwe talks, is expected in Harare on Monday to try once more to push Tsvangirai to sign the draft deal that Mugabe and a breakaway faction of the MDC that is led by Arthur Mutambara have already agreed to.
Under the draft power-sharing deal Mugabe would remain executive president in charge of both state and government while Tsvangirai would be prime minister but without power to hire or fire government ministers. He would also not chair Cabinet meetings. The MDC leader would also be required to report regularly to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai insists he should get the lion’s share in any power-sharing government because he defeated Mugabe in the first round presidential voting on March 29 although he failed to secure the margin required to takeover the presidency.
The March vote is widely regarded as more credible than a second round run-off poll on June 27 won by Mugabe who was the only candidate after Tsvangirai pulled out because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters. Western nations and several African countries have refused to recognise the June poll.
The opposition leader challenged Mugabe to call a fresh poll if he was not willing to give up power through negotiations. “We are saying to him you can call another election under international supervision and let’s see who is going to win that race,” he said.
The Zimbabwe talks had only a few weeks ago showed much promise that a political settlement was within easy reach but have in recent weeks looked irreversibly headed for collapse especially after Mugabe gave Tsvangirai up to last Thursday to sign the draft power-sharing deal or he would form a government without the opposition leader and his MDC party.
Sources in Mugabe’s government said at the weekend he only held back on announcing a new Cabinet to give chance to Mbeki’s latest push on Monday for a breakthrough in the talks.
On the other hand, the MDC rejected Mugabe’s ultimatum to sign up the power-sharing deal and said if he appointed a new Cabinet that would be the end of negotiations.
In addition, senior officials of the MDC told ZimOnline privately that Tsvangirai had in fact lost faith in the talks and was on a campaign to bring key African states and major international powers to intensify diplomatic pressure on Mugabe to relinquish power.
Analysts say only a government of national unity could be able to tackle Zimbabwe’s long-running crisis marked by political violence and a bitter recession seen in the world’s highest inflation of more than 11 million percent, 80 percent unemployment, shortages of food and basic commodities.
Western donor nations whose financial support is vital to any effort to revive Zimbabwe’s crumbled economy have said they would back a unity government only if its executive head is Tsvangirai. – ZimOnline
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