Biti attends negotiations despite Tuesday car crash

Bitis presence at the talks was in doubt after he persistently complained of chest pains following his lucky escape from a horrific car crash near Chegutu on Tuesday night. The Finance Minister only left hospital on Thursday morning, though his party had initially released a statement saying he was going to be released Wednesday.

After South African President Jacob Zumas visit to Zimbabwe, the negotiators from ZANU PF, MDC-T and MDC-M were instructed by their principals to attend to all outstanding matters during their meetings Thursday, Friday and on Monday. They are then expected to present a report to Zuma, as the SADC mediator, next Wednesday.

At the end of his two-day mediation visit last week Zuma said negotiators will work on a package of measures that will make them compliant with guidelines from regional leaders. He said the measures will be implemented concurrently as per the decision of the SADC troika in Maputo in December last year.

But there was no clarity as to what this meant exactly and journalists were not allowed to ask Zuma any questions at the end of his press conference.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa confirmed that the GPA talks started on Thursday afternoon, but would not give any details.

All I can say is Biti is part of our delegation to the talks that began this afternoon, Chamisa said.

SW Radio Africa understands that the negotiators are under strict orders, at the request of the South African government, not to divuldge or leak any information until they come to an agreement on all issues.

ZANU PF is being represented by Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Transport Minister Nicholas Goche. Biti and Elton Mangoma, the Economic Planning Minister are representing the MDC-T while Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube and Regional Intergration and International Co-operation Minister Priscillah Misihairambwi Mushonga are the two MDC-M representatives.

Political analyst Luke Zunga said while there is hope Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara had finally agreed on a roadmap to end the Zimbabwe crisis, he wanted to know when South Africa was going to let Zimbabweans know the success or the failure of these latest meeting.

I think time is ripe for South Africa to let us know at what point they think they have failed or succeeded in the Zimbabwe crisis. We dont want them to hang in there and pretend theyre assisting Zimbabwe when all what they are doing is protecting Mugabe, Zunga said.

The problem people have with South Africa right now is if they are put under pressure, they say Zimbabwe is not a province of that country. If there is some kind of acclaim, they accept it and when there are human rights abuses in Zimbabwe they say we cant talk about it because we are facilitators, Zunga added.

Zunga said the matter should be handed to the AU or other players, who might want to play a role in rectifying issues in Zimbabwe, if South Africa think they cannot push Mugabe to implement the GPA.