Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai Rejects Mugabe Ultimatum
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Zimbabwe Independent (Harare)
5 September 2008
Posted to the web 5 September 2008
Dumisani Muleya
MAIN opposition MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai has rejected President Robert Mugabe's ultimatum — whose deadline was yesterday — for him to sign a power-sharing agreement or risk being left out of his cabinet.
The move paved way for Mugabe to announce a new cabinet, delayed since early July due to ongoing talks. Mugabe is now expected to announce his cabinet any day from today.
A last ditch attempt to save the deal failed yesterday after Tsvangirai refused to attend meetings in Harare where he would have been under pressure to sign. Tsvangirai was in South Africa yesterday and was expected to return last night or today.
South African president Thabo Mbeki was yesterday forced to cancel a trip to Harare to try to make a breakthrough after Tsvangirai said he would not be around.
The MDC said Mugabe’s ultimatum on talks was "ill-advised and unnecessary". It said the demand showed his contempt for Sadc and AU leaders who are behind the negotiations. The party said the threat would sabotage negotiations and provided further evidence that Mugabe — "author of the current crisis" — was negotiating in bad faith.
MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa yesterday said Mugabe’s ultimatum to Tsvangirai was "misguided".
"Negotiations don’t work on the basis on political threats and ultimatums. We don’t understand all these outbursts. We are equal partners in the talks and we want to make it clear we won’t be intimidated or stampeded into signing a raw deal," Chamisa said.
"We don’t want to swallow a poisonous offer. Why should we accept an agreement giving us the position of ceremonial or titular prime minister? Why on earth should we accept this proposal? The people don’t want it. We won’t be commandeered by anyone to sign the agreement."
Chamisa said the talks had stalled because of Zanu PF’s "inflexibility and rigidity". He said it would be "political suicide" for Mugabe to appoint a cabinet and go it alone as the economic crisis would worsen.
"First, if Mugabe goes ahead unilaterally and intransigently, that would be a further confirmation of his dictatorship and autocracy. Second, if he goes it alone it would be tantamount to political suicide," Chamisa said. "That would be his choice and we won’t stop him. He seems determined to self-destruct."
Informed sources said yesterday Tsvangiari wrote a letter to Mbeki on Tuesday telling him he would not be in Harare to attend the meetings on the talks.
"Mbeki was supposed to come to Harare yesterday but was forced to cancel the trip because Tsvangirai wrote to him saying he would not be around," a source said. "Tsvangirai did not want to attend what he thinks would be hopeless meetings that would not make a difference."
Mbeki’s office yesterday said he was not coming to Harare. It did not say why, but sources said Tsvangirai had refused to take part in the meetings.
Tsvangirai is said to have confirmed his position to Mbeki in Zambia on Wednesday at the late president Levy Mwanawasa’s funeral.
Sources said Tsvangirai’s communication to Mbeki on Tuesday explained his remarks on South Africa’s Radio 702 on Wednesday when he said he was not aware of plans to resume talks soon.
Tsvangirai told Radio 702 that the power-sharing negotiations had broken down. Tsvangirai rejected the post of prime minister, saying it would not give him enough executive powers in government.
Tanzania, which is the AU chair, said there should be an equitable power-sharing arrangement in Zimbabwe.
"There is a problem and we still hope the mediation will continue and we still hope wisdom will prevail," Tanzanian Foreign minister Bernard Membe said this week.
"We would prefer a solution be arrived at immediately because of the escalating economic crisis. We still pray that a solution will be found towards a 50% power-sharing solution."
Tsvangirai said Mugabe wants to retain control of the security ministries and thus control of the army, police and intelligence services to protect his power-base and position.
"There was an attempt to fragment the cabinet. With some ministries reporting to the president and some ministries reporting to the prime minister," he told Talk Radio 702. "In this case the economic and social ministries will go to the prime minister. The security ministries will go to the president."
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Mugabe also had contact with Mbeki in Lusaka where he reportedly told him he would be proceeding with plans to announce a new cabinet. Mugabe is said to be planning to appoint his cabinet today or during the weekend.
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Read comments. Write your own.
We see all the usual comments again and again. some come from inside or close to Zimbabwe and the current regime. Its time for Mugabe and his clan of terrorists to realise the western world sees him as he truely is. When the army cant feed itself which is already happening and when the police cant feed its employees they will stop working. THATS what happens when you have hyper inflation. So soon they will realise that the problems of Zimbabwe did not come from the MDc but from within the Mugabe illegal government. Then Mugabes rule will collapse. Its… [Read Full Text]
Well done MDC!!
WE need parties like yours to move forward with determination the agenda in Africa for genuine freedon, democracy, respect for the rule of law and against the perpetuation of illegitimate regimes over the dead bodies of citizens they were supposed to protect.
The doors of hell are opening up for lunatic Mugabe and his thugs.
The costs of the sacrifice to delay taking over executive power until the poisonous provisions are dropped would be worth its weight in gold!
My patronising muzungu, what is the use of principles if the very people you purport to work for are starving and dying from diseases because you asked your powerful western friends to put up so called "selective" embargo/sanctions against your own people? What weapons does the MDC have but the the ability to maintain the severe suffering of Zimbabweans at the behest of Worldwide-Anglos.com, a group of people who would not mind wiping out all Africans from the surface of the earth. Please do not tell me that the MDC did not ask for sanctions as a means of prising… [Read Full Text]
Dear Ak47 is playing ignorance!
He knows very well ANC had asked for more and more sanctions to put an end to apartheid in SA. Mugabe is also implementing some sort of apartheid in Zimbabwe by terrorising all intellectuals who do not toe his line. This apartheid in reverse, by a black replacing the white and sucking the blood of innocent sons and daughters of Zimbabwe, black in majority, MUST be wiped off.
Selective sanctions must therefore stay. It's a majority of Zimbabweans who want to wipe off the illegitimate regime for ever who want sanctions to be further deepened… [Read Full Text]
My patronising muzungu, what is the use of principles if the very people you purport to work for are starving and dying from diseases because you asked your powerful western friends to put up so called "selective" embargo/sanctions against your own people? What weapons does the MDC have but the the ability to maintain the severe suffering of Zimbabweans at the behest of Worldwide-Anglos.com, a group of people who would not mind wiping out all Africans from the surface of the earth. Please do not tell me that the MDC did not ask for sanctions as a means of prising… [Read Full Text]
Shame on the MDC! Using the people's misery as a political weapon. Why do they want executive authority now when they boycotted the runoff election that was the route to executive power? I sympathise with Thabo Mbeki - it is difficult to deal with people with no principles, and who follow the advice of foreigners who do not understand Zimbabwean or African history and politics.
Use there misery? My god which one of your two brain cells typed your response??? Thabo Mbeki is scum and will be a forgotten by history because he is totally useless {and worse than that he condones the killing by mugabe and regime} to his people and the people of Africa.
Yes i am back from a month on a cruise ship in the pacific and catching up on the news.Hope all the good people on here are well and striving to be the voice of the good people of Zim.
Unfortunately we have many comments from people who have been outside Zimbabwe who dont understand the situation inside.SADC is full of people similar to mugabe and who would do anything to hold on to power. A BAD DEAL WILL NOT SOLVE THE ROOT OF OUR PROBLEMS
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The unfortunate part about Africa is that we have akapfunde1s. People with their heads so buried in the sand you can never dig them out. The thing is if you tell a lie for too long you start believing it yourself. When these Anglo.com's were giving you degrees and knighthoods you where quite happy accepting. When you were receiving donations of Land Rover Defenders you were quite happy with them. When you were selling farms acquired for resettlement to them (remember David Stevens, the first white farmer to be killed during your chaotic land reform program. he… [Read Full Text]