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Will Tsvangirai have real power?
The Economist


On Wednesday 11 February, more than ten months after success in the presidential and parliamentary elections for his party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mr Tsvangirai became prime

Tsvangirai has taken a brave step. In theory at least, he will share
power with the man who swore him into office: President Robert Mugabe,
who has ruled Zimbabwe since 1980.

The deal to share office was brokered by Zimbabwe's neighbours. Up
until the last moment, there had been doubts as to whether Tsvangirai
would agree to enter the new unity government. He had set several
conditions for his participation, including the release of MDC and
human-rights activists who had been abducted, tortured and detained for
months by government security forces on largely trumped-up charges.
None has been set free. In the end, and under some pressure, he appears
to have felt that a bad deal was better for his wretched compatriots
than no deal at all.

Zimbabwe, once one of the most prosperous countries in Africa, is in a
dire state. Millions now depend on food aid; many are starving. A
spreading cholera epidemic has killed over 3,300 so far, with nearly
70,000 infected. Health, sanitation and education systems are all in a
state of collapse.

Hyperinflation is running at unimaginable levels. The central bank has
now agreed to allow foreign currencies to be accepted as legal tender
alongside the local (near worthless) Zimbabwe dollar. But this will
only make life more difficult for those without access to the American
dollar or South African rand.

All these troubles now fall on Tsvangirai's plate. Even though the MDC
won 100 parliamentary seats in the elections last March—one more than
Mugabe's party—it has been allocated only 13 of the 31 ministries in
the new government. Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) gets 15, with the remaining
three going to another small opposition party led by Arthur Mutambara,
which holds just ten parliamentary seats. Responsibility for the hotly
contested home-affairs ministry, which oversees the police, is to be
split between Zanu (PF) and the MDC. Mugabe remains in control of the
armed forces. Tendai Biti, a fiery human-rights lawyer and the reputed
brains behind the MDC, has been given the unenviable post of finance
minister.

The whole shaky set-up is to be monitored by a joint 12-member
committee comprising four senior officials from each of the three
parties. It is supposed to check compliance with what has been agreed
and to seek to resolve any disputes. If it cannot, the disputes are to
be referred first to the Southern African Development Community (SADC),
a 15-member regional group which, after months of deadlock, succeeded
in ramming the deal through on 28 January. If it fails, the matter will
be referred to the African Union.

Many fear the MDC leader will simply be used by Mugabe as a scapegoat
for the country's seemingly insurmountable ills, leaving the wily
president, who turns 85 next week, in control of all the levers of real
power. Ominously, the president is apparently free to fire his prime
minister at any time for alleged incompetence, real or imagined.

South Africa's president, Kgalema Motlanthe, has hailed the deal as a
vindication of his country's much-criticised approach of quiet
diplomacy to the ongoing crisis, calling on the rest of the world to
come to the aid of Zimbabweans. But scepticism is understandable. Both
the United States and Britain have indicated they will wait to see how
the unity government performs before resuming aid or removing sanctions
against Mugabe and his allies.

Mugabe feasts as Zim starves

The Express

Robert Mugabe has issued a wish list for his birthday banquet,
including 2,000 bottles of champagne and 8,000 lobsters – while his
people starve. Nearly eight in 10 Zimbabweans currently rely on food
aid.

In the run-up to the despotic Zimbabwean leader’s 85th birthday, his
henchmen have been soliciting "donations" of cash and livestock for a
champagne and caviar celebration.

The list also includes 100kg of prawns, 4,000 portions of caviar and
8,000 boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates. The thugs say he would prefer
the champagne to be Moet & Chandon or 1961 Bollinger.

In a sickening postscript, it stipulates "no mealie meal" – referring
to the grain that was the country’s staple food, until economic
collapse rendered even that hard to come by.

The list, uncovered yesterday, has sparked condemnation from British
charities that are struggling to ease Zimbabwe’s humanitarian crisis.

Sarah Jacobs, of Save the Children, said: "The cost of one lobster
could feed a family of five for a week. A box of Ferrero Rocher would
buy enough rehydration salts to save 10 children with cholera. The
price of a bottle of 1961 Bollinger could help run an emergency feeding
centre for a week.

"With one in 10 children dying before the age of five in Zimbabwe, such comparison beggars belief."

Dealing with Robert Mugabe

Daily Telegraph

We should respond with caution to Morgan Tsvangirai’s appointment as prime minister of Zimbabwe.

There was a time when the sight of Robert Mugabe shaking hands on a
power-sharing deal with his principal opponent would have been warmly
applauded around the world.

Yet the swearing-in of Tsvangirai as prime minister of Zimbabwe merely
served as a reminder that he had been denied the political prize that
was rightfully his after winning the presidential elections almost a
year ago.

Mugabe’s refusal to accede to the democratic will of his impoverished
people has been a singularly depressing spectacle even by the standards
of African despotism. He has been aided in his almost pathological
single-mindedness by the failure of the main power in the region, South
Africa, to do anything to uphold the outcome of the ballot.

How should the West react to Tsvangirai’s appointment? With extreme caution, until he shows that he is able to wield real power.

There is an unfortunate precedent here in Joshua Nkomo, who was also
invited into Mugabe’s cabinet, only to be accused of treason and
exiled, before eventually becoming a powerless vice-president in a
one-party state.

In his memoirs, Nkomo wrote: "Nothing in my life had prepared me for
persecution at the hands of a government led by black Africans."

Tsvangirai is better prepared since he knows what he is up against; but he may come to rue the day he did a deal with Mugabe.

The prostitution of democracy

The Independent

It was a joyous moment for some, but I saw no reason of joining in any of the celebratory parties.

After so many years in exile, I see nothing to suggest that I can now
immediately walk back into a free democratic Zimbabwe in which my
rights as a citizen will be respected.

There was nothing historic or momentous about today’s occasion.
Tsvangirai’s oath merely threw a lifeline to a heartless, wretched
dictator who lost elections but shamelessly clung to power.

What happened in Zimbabwe today is a monumental tragedy. A travesty of
justice. It isn’t the delivery of a democratic outcome by the regional
African leaders who mediated. It’s the betrayal or prostitution of the
basic tenets of democracy. It amplifies the poverty of African politics.

When will African leaders ever be able to appreciate the democratic
fact that those who lose elections should simply hand over to the
victors? Mugabe lost the elections on 29 March, despite electoral
rigging in which his cronies withheld results for several weeks. If
Africa was serious about democracy, he should be history by now.

The fact that Tsvangirai agreed to be sworn in, whilst dozens of his
supporters remain jailed for the most spurious of charges is deeply
troubling. The fact that he dropped his legitimate demand for their
unconditional release before taking any oath is equally nerve wracking.

I have deep reservations about his shift of strategy to fight the
dictatorship from within. The late nationalist Joshua Nkomo who tried
the same knows better. Those who have cohabitated with Mugabe in the
hope they can reform from within have ended up either been absorbed
into the same defective system they sought to reform or ruthlessly
eliminated.

There is nothing to suggest that Mugabe is serious about the power
sharing deal. There is nothing to show that he is serious about the
reforms needed for Zimbabwe’s institutions to restore the rule of law.
That is precisely why he would not give Tsvangirai sole control of the
Home Affairs ministry in charge of the highly politicized Zimbabwean
police force.

The mood of the international donors who have to bankroll Zimbabwe’s
recovery was amply summed up by the British High Commission in Harare
which declared that a government in which Mugabe still leads has no
credibility and does not inspire confidence.

By capitulating at the last minute, Tsvangirai has merely created
another scapegoat for Mugabe. In addition to neo-colonialists,
neo-imperialists, gay gangsters and others on Mugabe’s endless list of
enemies, Tsvangirai will himself become a blame victim of Mugabe when
the new Prime Minister inevitably fails to deliver without the
international aid required.

So in my view, it’s not a matter of if but when the new government will
unravel, and Tsvangirai will have derailed the train of democracy for
Zimbabwe at an important moment. Meanwhile, we will still be plagued
with Mugabe for some time. I am depressed.

At last, Tsvangirai becomes PM

Nigeria

Almost one year after the last presidential election in Zimbabwe, the
country's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, was sworn in as prime
minister in a coalition government over which Robert Mugabe remains
president.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that the new
cabinet is scheduled to be announced tomorrow, though there is deep
scepticism about whether the new arrangement will work.

While administering the oath of office to Tsvangirai in Harare, Mugabe,
who has been ruling Zimbabwe since 1980, said he would co-operate with
Tsvangirai in an effort to restore peace and order and help rebuild the
country after the collapse of socio-political order.

During his address after inauguration, Tsvangirai also pledged to
alleviate the suffering of Zimbabweans by ending political violence and
by catalysing sustainable development in a country burdened with
epidemics and fighting. He said: Political violence must end today. We
can no longer afford brother against brother, because one happened to
have a different political opinion. I can assure that the culture of
impunity and of violation of human rights must definitely end, and it
must end today.

Mugabe also threw his weight behind the prime minister, saying: I
offer my hand of friendship and co-operation in the service of our
great country Zimbabwe. If yesterday we were adversaries, today we
stand in unity. It is a victory for Zimbabwe.

Two deputy prime ministers were also sworn in: Thokozani Khupe, deputy
leader of Tsvangirai’s MDC, and Arthur Mutambara, the leader of a
break-away faction of the MDC.

Analysts are sceptical whether the coalition government will work given
the record of governance under Mugabe. At best, some argue, it will be
a transitional arrangement leading to a new constitution and,
eventually, fresh elections.

The final power-sharing accord was sealed in January, after Tsvangirai
returned to Zimbabwe following an absence of more than two months for
fresh talks with Mugabe.

Earlier negotiations faltered after the MDC accused Mugabe’s Zanu (PF)
of keeping the most powerful ministries including the one that controls
the police. A minister from each party will now share the home affairs
department. Other ministries the MDC will control include health,
education and finance.

Tsvangirai had named MDC Secretary-General, Tendai Biti, his choice for
finance minister. A Zimbabwean judge last week dropped treason charges
against Biti over an alleged coup plot, citing lack of progress in the
case against him. Biti’s new position will be a key one, given the
country’s economic collapse.

Post published in: Africa News

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