SANF 08 No 60
South African President Thabo Mbeki is expected to announce the way forward on Zimbabwe’s power-sharing talks after holding separate meetings with the country’s political parties last week.
Mbeki, who is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) chief mediator in Zimbabwe’s political standoff, met separately last week in South Africa with representatives from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
“President Mbeki met separately with the three political parties and will make a pronouncement of when the inter-party talks will resume. The parties have currently returned to Zimbabwe for counsel on the way forward,” said Mbeki’s spokesperson, Mukoni Ratshitanga.
There are likely to be further contacts in Lusaka during the funeral of the late President Levy Mwanawasa, which will be attended by Mbeki and Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe, among others.
Mbeki was appointed by SADC in March 2007 to mediate in Zimbabwe’s political impasse.
The talks stalled early last month after the leader of the main MDC (MDC-T) faction, Morgan Tsvangirai, refused to sign a power-sharing accord already agreed to by Mugabe and the leader of the smaller MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara.
Tsvangirai is said to be pushing for an agreement that reduces Mugabe’s powers while giving the opposition leader greater authority to run a proposed unity government.
However, pressure is mounting on Tsvangirai to sign the power-sharing agreement concluded in mid-August, to facilitate his participation in the selection of a new Cabinet, which has been delayed pending conclusion of the agreement.
Some of his supporters are getting restive while the other parties are getting impatient, following protracted and intense negotiations that continued during the SADC Summit in South Africa on 16-17 August.
SADC leaders “encouraged and appealed to the parties to sign any outstanding agreements and conclude the negotiations as a matter of urgency to restore political stability in Zimbabwe”.
The Extraordinary Summit of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation that met at the same time gave its support to an agreement by the protagonists to the swearing in of Members of the House of Assembly and Senators.
This took place last week, with Tsvangirai’s party winning the post of Speaker in the House of Assembly for their Chairperson, Lovemore Moyo, while the candidate from Mutambara’s MDC was elected Deputy Speaker.
Mugabe’s party, ZANU-PF, won the posts of President and Deputy President of the upper house, the Senate.
This means that de facto power-sharing is already in place, although the MDC-T objected to the actual opening of Parliament by Mugabe, who addressed a joint sitting that was disrupted by loud singing and chanting from some members of MDC-T.
ZANU-PF has formally objected to this behaviour and has sent a video and a protest report to Mbeki. They have called on the new Speaker to establish a Select Committee to investigate the incident, amidst growing indication that patience is running out. They have also demanded an apology.
Previously MDC-T has boycotted state occasions at which Mugabe was officiating.
In his speech at the opening of Parliament, Mugabe urged Zimbabweans to focus on national development to achieve a common vision that puts the country’s interests first.
Members of the House of Assembly and Senate were elected in March but not sworn in pending the presidential run-off election at the end of June and the subsequent SADC mediation among the three parties.
MDC-T refused to recognise the results of the presidential run-off required under the Constitution, and insisted that they should take power based on the 29 March result, although they fell short of winning a majority of the votes.
Mutambara, whose smaller MDC party holds the balance of power in the House of Assembly, made an impassioned plea for power-sharing rather than transfer, during his submission to SADC leaders. He said the electorate had split their votes between the two main parties, thus indicating their desire for a sharing of power.
In the 29 March harmonised elections, ZANU-PF won 30 seats in the Upper House representing 45.49 percent of the total votes cast, while Tsvangirai’s MDC-T won 24 seats representing 43.56 percent and MDC Arthur Mutambara won 6 seats representing 11.54 percent of the vote.
In the Lower House, MDC-T won 100 seats and the MDC Mutambara won 10 seats, while ZANU-PF won 99 seats. One independent candidate won a parliamentary seat.
There are 210 seats in the Lower House and a total of 97 seats in the Senate, including provincial governors, chiefs and five seats to be filled at the discretion of the President.
The parties are also working together at local level, where MDC-T won a majority in most of the urban municipalities, while ZANU-PF won most of the rural council seats. Most councillors have been sworn in and the councils have been meeting for some weeks.
