Zimbabwe: Mugabe Set to Form Cabinet
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The Nation (Nairobi)
27 August 2008
Posted to the web 28 August 2008
Kitsepile Nyathi and Agencies
Harare
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will form a new government soon but he says the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) does not want to join the new administration, state media reported on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean police have stepped up a crack down on opposition legislators, arresting five of them inside two days on charges ranging from public violence to rape.
Mr Mugabe and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC have failed to reach agreement in over one month of post-election power-sharing negotiations aimed at ending a political crisis that has worsened Zimbabwe's devastating economic decline.
"We shall soon be setting up a government. The MDC does not want to come in apparently," state-owned newspaper The Herald quoted Mugabe as telling government officials on Tuesday after opening parliament.
Mugabe, who was booed and jeered by opposition members when he opened the assembly, has said he is still hopeful of agreement in the power-sharing talks.
The MDC said it remained committed to talks but the party insisted on an inclusive government.
Speaking hours after officially opening Zimbabwe's seven parliament where his speech was drowned by jeers and heckling from hostile MDC MPs on Tuesday, Mr Mugabe said he was now forming a government without the opposition.
"We shall soon be setting be setting up a government," he told a reception for the new MPs from his ruling Zanu PF. "The MDC does not want to come in apparently. "This time they have been promised by the British that sanctions would be more devastating, that in six months the government will collapse."
Meanwhile, arrests of MPs have been heavily criticised by the MDC as a threat to the stalled dialogue to end the country's long running political and economic crisis.
Two MPs were arrested as they entered parliament for a swearing in ceremony on Monday, while others were picked after Mr Mugabe officially opened parliament the following day.
"The latest arrests are of Pearson Mungofa, the MP for Highfield East, Bednoe Nyaunde the MP for Bindura South, Mathew Mathias Mlambo the MP for Chipinge East and Trevor Saruwaka the MP for Mutasa Central," said police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena in a statemnt.
He said four more MPs were still on the police's wanted list for alleged political crimes.
But the MDC said the legislators were facing "trumped up charges" aimed at frustrating the opposition following its victory in the March parliamentary elections.
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"MDC views this continued harassment and arrest of its legislators by the state security agents as a direct affront to the will of the people of Zimbabwe," the party said in a statement.
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The reporter, Kitsepile Nyathi left out a juicy part of the news when he quoted Mugabe saying, "this time Tsvangirai has been told by the British that the sanctions will be more devastating than before that my goverment will be out before six months". Mugabe went further and prophetically said, "I do not know when my government will fall but I wish Tsvangirai well on that day". I think this part is juicy because Mugabe, despite some of his short comings has some prophetic inclinings. Ask those Zimbabweans who were adult enough in 1980, they will tell you that… [Read Full Text]