Through a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Botswana
blamed Zanu-PF for the woes afflicting the power-sharing agreement
signed last September.
The statement said that the recent failure to release human rights activists does not augur well for Zimbabwe.
Invasion of farms
Botswana also expressed concern about the delay in making key appointments in the coalition government.
The statement condemned what Botswana termed illegal invasion of farms,
which are still going on despite the formation of the coalition
government.
Botswana said the invasions by Zanu-PF loyalists and operatives undermine the power-sharing agreement.
Botswana has been one of the most vocal critics of President Mugabe and Zanu-PF in Africa.
Postponed
Meanwhile Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai postponed a speech to
parliament which was to review the work of the new power-sharing
government in its first three months, a spokesman said Tuesday.
"It’s now next week," Tsvangirai’s spokesman James Maridadi told AFP
without saying why the speech had been deferred. "We don’t have the
date yet but it’s next week."
Government sources said Robert Mugabe is refusing to meet demands made by the MDC.
Tsvangirai and long-ruling President Robert Mugabe formed a unity
government in February to ease tensions and tackle an economic crisis
which saw inflation at one point peak to a conservatively estimated 231
million percent.
Analysts say the unity government has yet to make key reforms
guaranteeing political and media freedoms, highlighted by the arrest
Monday of two newspaper editors.
Three months after the formation of the new government the political
parties have yet to resolve outstanding issues including the
appointment of provincial governors.
Violence on white-owned farms continues, while activists from
Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change have been detained on
charges of seeking to topple Mugabe.
The fledgling government has declared itself broke and is unable to pay
workers salaries, only managing a US$100 monthly allowance.
Schools and public hospitals re-opened after nearly year-long strikes
by workers, but hospitals still have few drugs while teachers have
renewed a threat to strike over their meager wages
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