South Africa: Pretoria Talks Resume as Mugabe Goes for Broke
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
29 August 2008
Posted to the web 29 August 2008
Dumisani Mugabe
Harare
TALKS between Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu (PF) and opposition Movement for Democratic (MDC) resume today in Pretoria amid threats by President Robert Mugabe to proceed unilaterally to appoint a cabinet.
Zanu (PF) negotiators Patrick Chinamasa and Nicholas Goche flew to SA last night. Three MDC negotiators, Tendai Biti, Elton Mangoma and Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, were already in Pretoria yesterday. The last negotiator, Welshman Ncube, is due to fly in this morning.
Although talks are resuming, no agreement is likely to be signed because Mugabe is said to be determined to resist pressure for him to surrender more power to main MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, while the opposition chief is also not willing to budge.
Tsvangirai has refused to sign a power-sharing deal with Mugabe that regional leaders and his opposition rivals led by Arthur Mutambara think is "fair and realistic in the circumstances", saying it would leave him as a weaker junior partner.
Sources said President Thabo Mbeki, the mediator, who has called for today's reconvening of talks, would not reopen negotiations but ask the parties what should to be done to break the deadlock.
If the talks collapse, Mugabe would inevitably proceed unilaterally but his new government could be paralysed by his party's loss of control of parliament.
Mugabe said on Tuesday he was in the process of forming a new government. Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said yesterday his boss was going ahead with his arbitrary plans to appoint a cabinet despite continuing talks.
"Nothing is going to stop us from forming a new government," Matonga said in an interview with public broadcaster SAfm. "We need to move forward, we need to make sure that Zimbabwe regains its status, we need to work on the economy."
Matonga suggested that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) had given Mugabe the authority to convene parliament and appoint a cabinet.
However, SADC, which authorised Mugabe to reconvene parliament during its recent summit in Johannesburg, said yesterday it had not given him the go-ahead to appoint a cabinet while talks were still under way.
SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao said the regional body gave Mugabe the powers only to convene parliament, as reflected in SADC's communiqué issued after the summit.
A memorandum of understanding for talks, signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Mbeki on July 21, prohibits such actions as the opening of parliament and appointing a new cabinet.
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Biti said the MDC would today lodge a formal complaint with Mbeki on these issues, including the arrest of five of the party's MPs and a senior party official this week.
Read comments. Write your own.
Mr Mbeki is a panafrican par excellence, he knows what he is doing and he has Zimbabwe at heart. Africa will never have a leader of the calibre of Mr Mbeki who has diffied all odds to get an agreement by Zimbabweans and he has not succumbed to Bush and Brown racist thinking. Long live President Mbeki we will never forget you Zimbabweans are proud of you you are a true revolutionary
Kufa and Aka,soon there will be two kinds of people in Zimbabwe the Beggar and the man who gives him a bowl to beg with.I really cant see what racist thinking has to do with it .The bleeding obvious here is Mbeke and Mugabe are not up to the job.Africa deserves better.
In retaliaton, Mbeki has just to show lunatic Mugabe the exit door! Oh, poor frail man! Time has come to give up; otherwise the desire for continued power will destroy you!
To the illterate responsible for the attached misleading headline...
"South Africa: Pretoria Talks Resume as Mugabe Goes for Broke"
Please be aware that outside white-supremacist circles, the apartheider name of 'Pretoria' like that of 'Rhodesia' before it, is officially no longer in use as the name for the capital of South Africa.
thus your headline should infact read...
"South Africa: Tshwane Talks Resume as Mugabe Goes for Broke"
PS don't get too disheartened has you can still console yourself with the anti-Mugabe bias crudely built into the headline.
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What a useless piece of work done by Mbeke in this sham!Me thinks Mugabe's holding this poor chap to ransom.