HARARE Zimbabwes bickering political rivals meet with regional leaders in Zambia today hoping to resolve power-sharing disputes that have strained ties in a fragile inclusive government but analysts said the SADC was unlikely to resolve the impasse as the country readies for possible fresh elections this year. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) troika summit comes at a time of great tension in the coalition of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, with the premiers Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party charging that security agencies allied to Mugabe have increased a crackdown on its members.
Any hopes the regional security organ will read the riot act to Harares warring partners was immediately dashed by Zambian Foreign Minister Kabinga Pande who said regional leaders would likely stick to their past resolutions pressing the two sides to find a solution.
“The desire of SADC is to see that there is unity in the government of Zimbabwe and we are certain that at the end of the summit, the parties will have resolved the differences,” Pande said.
Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party are pushing for elections this year even without a referendum on a new constitution expected in September, which has seen Tsvangirai warning of a boycott if his coalition partners unilateral call for parliamentary and presidential elections.
Tsvangirai has repeatedly urged SADC to craft a “road map” that will set benchmarks for credible free and fair elections to end the tenure of the unity government, while avoiding the bloodbath of 2008 when more than 200 opposition members were killed in political violence.
Political analysts said SADC would at best urge Mugabe and Tsvangirai to work together towards fresh elections and would not want to be seen to side with one political party.
This will allow Mugabe to continue with his utter contempt of SADC leaders and in any case most SADC leaders have consistently shown that they are averse to any action that may loosen Mugabes grip on power, John Makumbe, a political commentator and longtime Mugabe critic said.
The SADC troika is made up of leaders of Zambia, Mozambique and Namibia, while South African President Jacob Zuma who is the facilitator in Zimbabwes political dialogue will join them. Zuma will table a report on Zimbabwe.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza and Namibian leader Hifikepunye Pohamba are strong allies of Mugabe, who at 87 years is one of the oldest leaders in Africa.
The MDC says Mugabe has repeatedly violated the global political agreement that formed the basis of the inclusive government and the party is frustrated by SADCs apparent reticence towards Mugabes excesses.
A special cabinet sitting last week did not resolve the power-sharing dispute between the rival coalition partners as had been expected.
Relations have soured in recent weeks over the arrest of MDCs Energy Minister Elton Mangoma on two separate charges of fraud over a fuel deal and the cancellation of a tender on the supply of electricity metres and a Supreme Court decision to nullify the election of Lovemore Moyo as Speaker of Parliament.
Moyo was, however, re-elected on Tuesday in a fresh election marred by charges of vote buying.
Police have angered the MDC by banning several of the partys rallies while allowing ZANU-PF meetings. Tsvangirai has said a cabal of security chiefs loyal to Mugabe was subverting the constitutional civilian government.
This should ordinarily be an easy summit for the SADC troika because they only need to enforce the implementation of agreed outstanding issues. These issues were agreed to by Mugabe himself and there should be a clear timetable for the implementation, Makumbe said.
It is time for SADC to act like the guarantor it is supposed to be to this political agreement.
The MDC says Mugabe has refused to swear-in former white commercial farmer Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister and five of its officials as provincial governors and is resisting agreed security and broadcasting reforms among other issues
But the veteran Zimbabwe leader says he has met all terms of the political agreement and that it is the MDC which has failed to persuade Western countries to lift financial and travel sanctions imposed on ZANU-PF.
The unity government is credited with halting a decade of economic collapse and ending hyper-inflation and reducing political tension, but the coalition partners remain deeply divided over economic policy such as indigenisation of foreign companies and on how to equally share power.
Mugabe has rankled the MDC further with regulations giving mining firms up to September to transfer at least 51 percent of their shares to blacks, which the MDC fears will reverse economic gains in the last two years and benefit those close to Mugabe.
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