Let Zanu go it alone

We are made to believe that the MDC strongly believed that the SADC Sandton Meeting had presented them with an opportunity for a full review of previous discussions and negotiations by the 15 SADC leaders, but as it has now been reported, the full SADC only went on to adopt the SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security Co-operation’s Harare report despite the presentations made by the three Political parties. This is where one smells a rat especially when the SADC "directives" are specific in that implementation of the GNU must be made immediately. To this end, we need to review the current stage of the GNU negotiations against the African Union Resolutions of 1 July 2008. However, before getting to the review of the actual Summit Resolutions, the following reproduced three quotes from various publications seek to enlighten on the views of various parties regarding a GNU at the time this option was adopted.

1.    Tsvangirai’s MDC dismissed a South African press report that

regional mediator President Thabo Mbeki was close to brokering a deal for Mugabe and Tsvangirai to negotiate a unity government. "It is all speculation, there is nothing like that. There’s no imminent deal, no negotiations. There cannot be a deal to which we are not party," said MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.

2.    Mugabe’s spokesman told reporters in the Egyptian city of Sharm

el-Sheik that Zimbabwe would not adopt the "Kenyan way" of negotiating a power-sharing agreement. "Kenya is Kenya. Zimbabwe is Zimbabwe," said George Charamba, Mugabe’s spokesman. As for Western critics, Mr. Charamba said,

they could "go hang a thousand times.   

3.    "A Government of National Unity at this stage is a nonstarter," says

Maroleng. Unless there is a complete restructuring of the Constitution, a change in the executive powers of the presidency, any power-sharing deal at this point would tilt the advantage, permanently, in the favour of Mugabe.

"It’s placing icing over a rotten core. It would look nice, but underneath, it would still be rotten," says Chris Maroleng, a Security Analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in Tshwane, South Africa.

Since these were the views pertaining at the time the African Unity Summit

(AU) resolutions were made, one wonders why a transitional government arrangement was not considered instead.

__________________________________________________________________________