Zimbabwe: Talks Expected to Resume
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SW Radio Africa (London)
27 August 2008
Posted to the web 28 August 2008
Violet Gonda
The gulf between the MDC and ZANU PF widened on Tuesday when Robert Mugabe went ahead and convened parliament, in breach of the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the rival parties.
The rift cracked further as a result of events in the House on Tuesday when MDC MPs drowned out Mugabe's speech with booing and heckling.
This has resulted in South African President Thabo Mbeki convening a meeting between the rival parties to resume the aborted negotiations. It's reported the six negotiators, representing the Tsvangirai MDC, Mutambara MDC and ZANU PF are expected to meet with South African officials on Thursday.
Because of the media blackout surrounding the talks it has been difficult to verify this information but a senior MDC official, speaking on condition of anonymity said the negotiators were expected on Thursday to meet South African officials.
The official said Mbeki convened the meeting in a bid to explore the way forward in light of the developments in Zimbabwe where ZANU PF has breached the MOU and has reversed gains achieved in the talks. "The meeting seeks to explore opportunities on how the process can be salvaged from total collapse," said the official.
South African media reports that Mbeki is set to travel to Zimbabwe for the talks. But a South African spokesman denied this.
Some believe that Mbeki's plan to put pressure on Morgan Tsvangirai to sign the deal by pushing for the convening of parliament backfired when the MDC won the Speakership, humiliating both Mugabe and himself. He is now trying to pick up the pieces by restarting the talks.
The talks reached a deadlock two weeks ago over the issue of how power would be shared between Mugabe and Tsvangirai.
It remains to be seen if ZANU PF will continue with the talks since Mugabe appears to be unfazed by the deadlock and has not only gone ahead and convened parliament, but has appointed his loyalists as senators and governors. The ZANU PF leader is also making plans to form a new government.
It is feared the stalemate will result in the regime hardening its position and hardships continuing. Already five MDC MPs were arrested this week, and despite widespread appeals by humanitarian agencies, a food aid ban is still in place.
In a clear sign of the regime's intentions Nathaniel Manheru, widely believed to be Presidential spokesman George Charamba wrote in his weekly Herald column: "We need Government, a strong Government, which will take bold decisions without flinching. Globally, developments pitting Russia against NATO present real opportunities. Back home, the mature realisation that the enemy within needs to be handled conclusively will help. Structures of war - economic war - are needed and will come shortly. As will leadership. In the few months it will become apparent whether or not the revolution can or cannot defend itself. By any means necessary."
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Questions are now being raised as to why the MDC is continuing with this charade as it is clear that the talks cannot yield anything. One observer asked: "Why are both parties not calling off the talks or announcing that they have failed? They all claim to be committed but the events on the ground are contrary."
Read comments. Write your own.
I agree with you the credibility of the report is suspect. This is also true to many of the reports from SW Radio Africa that is a British sponsored propaganda machine on Zimbabwe. A radio 10,000 miles away from Zimbabwe has the guts to claim a lot of rubbish. True, Mugabe must go but…should we be listening to this kind of propaganda!
This reminds me of Radio Rwanda that was largely a sponsor of 1 million Rwandans being killed. Radio talk show has very little journalistic rules. It is free to air all the rubbish it wants. That is why… [Read Full Text]
What rubbish Phiri. The founder of SW Radio Africa first tried to start up that radio station in Zimbabwe. Guess what, it was shut down, just as ZANU-PF have shut down every other attempt at INDEPENDENT news. The only option for SWRA is to broadcast from OUTSIDE the country and even then ZANU-PF uses military equipment to try block the radio signal. By the way, the founder worked for the ZBC prior to starting up SWRA.
As for your lies about it being British sponsored, perhaps you should take note of the DONATION link on their front page. The radio… [Read Full Text]
Mindpower, welcome back and hopefully wiser than before. I still stand by my comments that SW Radio is now sponsored by the British gov't. Originally it started as an independent broadcaster, but due to financial problems it now recieves funding from the UK "Resume change" people.
The UK BBC writes a lot of "trash" on Zimbabwe. No one even takes the BBC seriously, when it comes to Zimbabwe. Occassionally, the BBC pays people to obtain the ugliest pictures in Zimbabwe. They run these contests on the ugliest pictures on Zimbabwe everyday!
The professional liar Mugabe! He lied to his people he would liberate them. On the contrary, he has again enslaved people like Aka.., Phiri and Co with his lies against the West. Thanks God a majority of Zimbabweans have done away with the chain! Many, however, have paid a high price by having to seek refuge in neighbouring countries.
Talking about cheap journalism! Phiri & Co love to read The Herald more than even the Bible! That explains their state of mind!!
Had there not been censorship in Zimbabwe, there would not have been any need for the multiplication of… [Read Full Text]
Once again we watch events in Zimbabwe and ask why it keeps happening over and over again. The answer is African leadership. SADC, AU, SA in the form of Mbeki are just as much to blame for this disaster as Mugabe. At any time in the past ten years any of this organizations could easily have stopped Mugabe in mid stride. But they didn't. They all say they don't want to interfer with another country's internal affairs. That sounds great on paper, in reality it doesn't hold much water. My guess is that SA… [Read Full Text]
Mbeki, if he wants an impartial settlement, has just to force lunatic Mugabe to give up executive power. Nothing less will be accepted by the MDCs.
Should Mugabe refuse, SA masters all the necessary strings to bring Mugabe's downfall. The pressure in SA itself is not that high to force Mbeki into taking such a drastic step. In the meantime, however, millions of Zimbabweans are continuing to bleed due to the power-hungry Mugabe!
The talks under Mbeki will lead to nowhere, unless executive power is wrestled away from the criminal!
The Rand is low because of the Mugabe Mbeki alliance Crime in SA is high because of the Mugabe Mbeki alliance Xenophobia is high because of the Mugabe Mbeki alliance Zimbabwe problems are because of the Mugabe Mbeki alliance Electricity shortages are because of the Mugabe Mbeki alliance World Cup 2010 will be lost due to the Mugabe Mbeki alliance Getting rid of the alliance would solve a lot of problems?
RUBBISH!!! There is no connection of one with the other. All is in your mind, my foul mouthed friend. While its good that the ZANU Admistration and the MDC were talking and discussing issues, the talks cannot go indefinitely ad infinitum while Zimbabwe was burning and the economy going into reverse. We want the end to the talks, one way or the other. The MDC leadership may have a valid case for not signing on. The point is that the talks cannot go on for ever. Both sides do ideed have plan B, for ZANU, they form a government, perhaps,… [Read Full Text]
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I doubt the contents of this report that Mbeki has accussed Mugabe of breaking the terms of the MOU. Mbeki is actually guilty of shielding Mugabe and helping Mugabe to subvert the will of the majority of Zimbabweans. It is clear to me that Mbeki and most of his SADC peers are biased towards Mugabe and against Tsvangirai. Trying to spruce up the image of Mbeki by implying that he is impartial in the Zim talks is as horrible as the attempt to apply lipstick to a bullfrog. I gree with the last section of the report which asks why… [Read Full Text]