Impeccable sources in government and the two MDCs said Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa, who is also chief representative of Mugabe’s ruling
ZANU PF party in power-sharing negotiations with the opposition,
dispatched the draft Zimbabwe Constitutional Amendment No 19 to the
parties.
MDC negotiators – Tendai Biti and Elton Mangoma from the Morgan
Tsvangirai formation and Welshman Ncube and Priscillah
Misihairabwi-Mushonga from the Arthur Mutambara camp – will meet ZANU
PF’s Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche on Thursday to deliberate on the
draft amendment.
Tsvangirai, Mutambara and President Robert Mugabe signed a unity government deal on September 15.
But the power-sharing accord has since ran into problems over the
allocation of Cabinet portfolios, enactment of the constitutional
amendment, distribution of provincial governors’ posts, the composition
of a proposed national security council and the appointment of
permanent secretaries and ambassadors.
Under the deal, Tsvangirai would become prime minister while Mutambara
becomes one of the two deputy prime ministers. The other deputy prime
minister will come from the Tsvangirai faction.
“Chinamasa drafted the constitutional amendment and sent it to the two
MDC formations,” a senior government official said. “Negotiators from
the three parties will meet on Thursday to go through the draft. The
final amendment is expected to be gazetted next week.”
In terms of the Zimbabwean law, a constitutional amendment will only be
taken to Parliament after having been gazetted and debated in public
for 30 days. Once it is in Parliament, the amendment can be fast
tracked.
Nelson Chamisa, MDC-Tsvangirai spokesperson, confirmed the delivery of
the amendment. “We took delivery of the constitutional amendment,” he
said without giving out much information.
Chinamasa declined to comment.
The main formation of the MDC led by Tsvangirai resolved last Friday
resolved not to join the unity government until the amendment is
promulgated into law and all of its other demands were met.
The government-controlled Herald newspaper in its Tuesday edition
quoted information minister Sikhanyiso Ndlovu saying the formation of
an inclusive government would take some time and pleaded with
Zimbabweans to be patient.
This is a departure from what Mugabe and senior government officials were saying last week.
Speaking after returning from a summit of the regional SADC grouping in
South African last Monday, Mugabe said he would “as soon as possible”
appoint Cabinet after the regional bloc ruled that ZANU PF and the
MDC-Tsvangirai should co-share the home affairs ministry.
Tsvangirai – who insists the MDC be given sole control of home affairs
because Mugabe will control the defence ministry – immediately rejected
the call to co-manage the portfolio with ZANU PF and said his party
would not join the unity government.
In yesterday’s Herald, Ndlovu said forming the unity government was a “process not an event”.
Zimbabweans hope a power-sharing government would help ease the
political situation and allow the country to focus on tackling an
economic crisis marked by the world’s highest inflation rate of 231
million percent, severe shortages of food and basic commodities. –
ZimOnline