Mugabe was received in Mbambane by the Zimbabwean ambassador to Swaziland, Agrippa Mutambara. He was accompanied by Emmerson Mnangagwa, Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche.
MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Prof Arthur Mutambara were expected in Mbambane today.
The latest round of negotiations are set to be held under the facilitation of members of the SADC troika on Politics, Defence and Security, President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique, President Eduardo dos Santos of Angola and King Mswati III of Swaziland.
South Africa President Thabo Mbeki, who led the stalled mediation last week, will also be part of the team. He is expected to present a report detailing the points of disagreements.
Significantly, new South Africa President Kgalema Motlante, who took the SADC chair mantle from Mbeki, will also lead a high powered delegation of mediators from South Africa. Motlante, who espouses a totally different approach to that of his predecessor Mbeki believes in robust engagement with the Harare administration, and is widely expected to add fresh impetus to the dialogue.
Mbeki brokered a power-sharing deal signed between Mugabe and Tsvangirai on September 15 to form a national unity government. The opposition narrowly won March parliamentary elections.
For five days last week, Mugabe refused to let go of ten key ministries, prompting Tsvangirai to walk out of the negotiations on Friday.
While politicians bicker about Zimbabwe’s government, half the population – 5.1 million people – faces starvation, two-thirds of children are out of school, and water shortages have led to deadly cholera outbreaks in three parts of the country, according to aid agencies.
Mugabe’s chief negotiator, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, told the official press here over weekend that delegations from the three parties will be called upon to clarify any outstanding issues at the three-way meeting of the heads of state. He said only the Home Affairs ministry was in dispute, but the MDC says the dispute involves ten ministries.
The troika will guide us on the way forward, Chinamasa was quoted by the official Sunday Mail newspaper as saying.
Tsvangirai, who addressed a large rally in Masvingo yesterday appeared exasperated about the delay in the implementation of the deal, which he blamed on Mugabe’s intransigence.
The sooner we put finality to this stupid debate about the allocation of power the better, Tsvangirai told a feedback rally in Masvingo.
The MDC leader told a cheering crowd in a dusty football stadium that his party was not desperate to enter into a government with token ministries that would not bring about meaningful change.
Post published in: News