20100329
allafrica

The country's rival political parties were expected to conclude their talks on Monday, on the remaining issues in the Global Political Agreement, exactly two years to the day since the MDC-T became the largest party in the House of Assembly.

Morgan Tsvangirai's party won 100 of the chamber's 210 seats while the former ruling ZANU PF took 99 seats and lost control of the House for the first time since independence in 1980. Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, representing the smaller faction of the MDC, signed a power-sharing agreement on 15th September 2008. The new government was finally formed in February 2009 but Mugabe and Tsvangirai continue to disagree over the implementation of the GPA.

Mugabe has been in power since independence in 1980 and went from being praised as a liberator who freed the former British colony from minority white rule to being vilified as a dictator. He and Tsvangirai had been enemies for a decade, and Tsvangirai has been jailed, beaten, tortured and tried for treason -- charges that were dismissed in court.

Under a complicated arrangement, Tsvangirai was appointed the prime minister with executive powers to chair a new council of ministers responsible for forming government policies. He is deputy chairman of a Cabinet of Ministers that Mugabe heads.

So far there is no indication at all as to whether the negotiators have managed to overcome the various obstacles, since they last met on Thursday and Friday, in accordance with an 'agreement' with mediator President Zuma. A report has to be presented to the South African President on Wednesday, before the Southern African Development Community considers a way forward.

Talks in the last year have completely failed to finalise the implementation of the GPA that many had hoped would help end the country's political and social crisis. There was a brief glimmer of hope two weeks ago when Zuma visited Harare and announced at the end of his two-day stay that the three principals had agreed to a 'package of measures' to help rescue the fragile unity government.

Zuma even told journalists the parties had agreed the measures would be implemented concurrently, as per the decision of the SADC troika in Maputo.

However after ZANU PF's politburo and central committee meetings last week, the former ruling party said the three political parties in the unity agreement did not reach an agreement during Zuma's visit.

Mugabe told his central committee members that ZANU PF still insists that it will not compromise in the current talks over outstanding GPA issues, until targeted sanctions imposed by the West were removed.

The fact is that Mugabe is not being asked to compromise. He is merely being asked to implement the GPA, which is something he signed up to do over a year ago.

Mugabe's statement was in total contrast to comments by Zuma that the parties had reached agreement during his intervention a fortnight ago. MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa expressed shock at ZANU PF's 'political somersault' describing it 'revisionism.'

Chamisa was quoted over the weekend saying an agreement had been reached that Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana should vacate their offices. There was also an agreement on the re-appointment of provincial governors among other issues, including the appointment of Roy Bennett to another ministerial portfolio which is not Agriculture.

Human rights lawyer Gabriel Shumba told us they don't hold out much hope from the talks considering ZANU PF's intransigency since the formation of the unity government. Shumba said most people are keeping expectations low ahead of the negotiators presenting their report to Zuma on Wednesday.