A SADC summit in August which is meant to review the progress of the unity government has put Mugabes regime under pressure to clear outstanding issues, political commentators have said. The week has seen a flurry of developments including the un-banning of the Daily News newspaper and the Information Ministry allowing CNN and the BBC to resume reporting inside the country for the first time in almost 8 years.
In addition, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday met the countrys security chiefs for the first time under the National Security Council, something that was supposed to have happened several months ago when the bill creating the council was first passed into law.
Other issues relating to the appointment of provincial governors, permanent secretaries and the swearing in of Deputy Agriculture Minister Roy Bennett are reported to have been resolved. Bennett is expected to be sworn-in in August, while ambassadorial candidates from the two MDC formations will begin their induction training next week Monday.
A compromise was struck to retain the current permanent secretaries on the basis that they were career civil servants who possessed the qualifications to run the Ministries.
Commentators who spoke to Newsreel said Mugabe is under pressure to appease the SADC heads of state given that Tsvangirai and Mutambara wrote to the regional group and its chairman, South African President Jacob Zuma, complaining about outstanding issues. Tsvangirai is currently in South Africa for several engagements, which we are told will include a meeting with Zuma, where the state of the coalition government will be discussed.
Under the Global Political Agreement which formed the basis of the unity deal, SADC and the AU are the guarantors of the deal. In January SADC resolved to use its annual summit to assess progress made in the coalition.
But even as the coalition takes steps forward, other developments including the indiscriminate arresting, convicting and jailing of MDC MPs continue to cast a shadow over the government.
The MDC also want the appointment of Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono and Attorney General Johannes Tomana reversed because it was done without the consent of the other coalition partners. Mugabe has refused to budge on removing his money man Gono, and his blue-eyed boy Tomana. Sporadic attacks on MDC activists continue countrywide with ZANU(PF) supporters acting with complete impunity.
Analyst Glen Mpani says Mugabe and Zanu(PF) want to create the perception they are committed to the deal but will revert back to the normal behaviour after the SADC review next month.
SW Radio News
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