The MDC must refuse to be rushed into regularising Cabinet allotments ahead of the Premiership department being legitimised in terms of the agreement for to do so would be the dangerous political brinkmanship of putting the cart ahead of the horse. It’s a calculated Zanu PF trap.
As the inclusive government formation talks are escalated to the SADC Troika for possible finalisation it is most fundamental that the dispute be understood for what it is rather than what it has been sold out to be by the compromised State media in the country.
Ever since the agreement was signed, State Media went into overdrive to influence public opinion into the belief that the agreement legitimised President Mugabe to exercise the same powers he held as Executive President prior to the signing of the agreement.
Led by Information and Publicity Secretary George Charamba aka Nathaniel Manheru the State media has at every opportunity published opinions that falsely imply that the MDC formations came into this agreement out of desperation and settled for less than what is in the agreement.
Whereas the current dispute was pre-empted by Article XX of the agreement and procedures of dealing with it set out in the agreement, Zanu PF has fallen back into its lethargic sacrosanct belief that it is in charge and what it says goes.
Even the reminder from its very own geriatric and despotic leader that the reason why he is in the embarrassing position of having to negotiate for his own and the Party’s legitimacy in government was because they lost elections on 29 March 2008, has failed to wake up the Party’s faithful from this deep slumber they have been in for the past 20 years.
Zanu PF has always and is still of the belief that it can get away with any form of political suicide in Zimbabwe so long it pretends to accommodate democratic change but remains autocratic in practice.
There is no political will in the party to embrace change and move out of the cocoon that it is ensconced because leading personalities in the party are stained with past murders, corruption, money laundering and pillaging of State Assets.
The current impasse is not about allocation of key Ministries to formations that signed the inclusive government agreement but rather the failure by President Mugabe and his Party to live by the spirit and letter of the agreement from the date when it was signed to date.
Whereas ARTICLE XX of the agreement to form an inclusive Government tacitly sets out the agreed and accepted principles, philosophy and commitment necessary to support successful formation of the inclusive Government, Zanu PF has so far acted contrary to the spirit and letter of that Article in the agreement triggering the impasse that obtains.
Therein parties acknowledged that they had an obligation to establish a framework of working together in an inclusive government; that the formation of such a government will have to be approached with great sensitivity, flexibility and willingness to compromise; and that the formation of such a Government would demonstrate the respect of the Parties for the deeply-felt and immediate hopes and aspirations of the millions of Zimbabweans whom they termed “our people”.
They expressed determination to carry out sustained work to create the conditions for returning our country to stability and prosperity.
In doing so they acknowledged the need for gender parity, particularly the need to appoint women to strategic Cabinet posts.
In tandem with those underlying principles they then proceeded to agree on where Executive Powers and Authority of the Inclusive Government shall vest.
They agreed that Executive Power and Authority shall vest in and will be shared among the President, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, as provided for in this Constitution and legislation.
They further agreed that the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister of the Republic and the Cabinet of the Republic shall exercise executive authority subject to the Constitution and the law.
In the exercise of executive authority, it was agreed, the President, Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers must have regard to the principles and spirit underlying the formation of the Inclusive Government and accordingly act in a manner that seeks to promote cohesion both inside and outside government.
What has happened so far is that only the President has continued to exercise executive authority and outside the spirit and letter of the agreement for that matter.
That is why the negotiations on Ministerial allotments have stalled.
First President Mugabe delivered a nauseating speech at the signing ceremony wherein he failed to acknowledge the Vice Presidents, the Prime Minister and his Deputies, the Speaker of Parliament and President of the Senate and the Mayor who were there present.
Secondly President Mugabe chose to attend the UN Security Council meeting in New York with a massive delegation of Zanu PF hangers on instead of attending to the implementation of the volatile inclusive Government agreement he had just signed.
On his return he went ahead to announce an inclusive Government Cabinet line up he had not discussed and agreed with parties to the agreement forming such a Government.
Dr Ignatious Chombo continued to illegally appoint electorally rejected former Zanu PF Councillors and Commissioners into Local Councils where Zanu PF had been walloped to restore the rejected Party’s relevance in those Local Authorities.
Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono continued to implement his Print Money and Regulate Financial markets as if he has been guaranteed yet another five year tenure of office by the agreement.
Police Commissioner Augustine Chihuri continued to issue orders for Police to harass and detain WOZA/MOZA peaceful demonstrators demanding the inclusive Government to focus on the debilitating humanitarian catastrophe facing the Nation.
State controlled media continued to spew vitriol and hurt messages against the MDC and the agreement.
But what is it in the spirit and letter of the agreement that manifests as the current impasse on Cabinet post allocation?
The answers are in the agreement that the parties signed. Not what they have done about clauses therein but rather what has not been done deliberately or by omission it is neither here nor there.
Fact remains that what has not been done which was agreed would be done is so material unless it is done the impasse will continue and the SADC Troika meeting will not yield anything to the contrary.
The initial cause of the political impasse was the disputed “re-election” of President Mugabe in a one man sham of a runoff Presidential poll on 27 June 2008.
The agreement to form an inclusive Government regularised that and restored President Mugabe’s legitimacy not just in letter but in deed when the SADC Mediator crowned him immediately before the signing of the agreement and tasked him to do the same for his Vice Presidents, Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Ministers designate in terms of Agreement on his role.
“The President shall, pursuant to this Agreement, appoint the Prime Minister pending the enactment of the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment no.19 as agreed by the Parties;formally appoints Deputy Prime Ministers, Ministers and Deputy Ministers in accordance with this agreement,” reads the agreement in part of his role.
He has not adhered to that and infact hinted he was not about to do that when he, at the signing ceremony pleaded with anyone who dared listen that now the agreement was in place nobody should seek assistance about its implementation from then President Mbeki whom he reckoned deserved a rest after the protracted and acrimonious negotiations that preceded the agreement.
What he implied was that now that he had been legitimised he was in sole charge of the implementation process of the agreement and any attempt to recall SADC mediation where his decisions were not acceptable to partners in the agreement should not be contemplated as he was now a legitimate dictator.
That is the single and most critical factor that has led to the current impasse. The Troika can break the impasse within minutes by demanding that President Mugabe lives up to the spirit and letter of the agreement in a chronological and rational sequence.
How?
First President Mugabe must formally announce the appointment of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers Designate as agreed and notwithstanding that the envisaged Constitutional Amendment No 19 is yet to be enacted.
That way he will pave the way to move forward with Cabinet appointments and formation of the National Council of Ministers.
If Cabinet is formed before the formalisation of the Appointment of the Premier and his deputies what would stop President Mugabe to forge ahead with a government without the premiership arguing that the matter of the appointment of the Premier and his deputies required Parliamentary ratification and at the same time using his Parliamentarians to block passage of Constitutional Amendment No 19 until such time he has consolidated his grip on the inclusive Cabinet and poisoned it with unworkable Zanu PF mantra.
The MDC must refuse to be stampeded into agreeing a Cabinet before their Premier is legitimised. If they do they will commit regrettable political suicide only Zanu PF has in the past been capable of defying.
After the Premier’s Department has been legitimised by advance appointment of the President in terms of the agreement blockage of the passage of Constitutional Amendment No 19 in the Legislative Assemblies will be rendered an academic exercise in futility.
That is the confidence that the SADC Troika meeting needs to instil in the negotiation process to nudge Zanu PF and President Mugabe to concede Cabinet positions in dispute because it would not serve the Party’s agenda to dig in when clearly the Prime minister will supervise day to day government operations and has Constitutional powers to relieve incompetent Ministers of their duties in consultation with the President.
Alternatively the SADC Troika must propose that in the aftermath of Cabinet allotment all Zanu PF held key cabinet portfolios report directly to the Prime Minister and those deemed key portfolios allotted to the MDC report directly to the President.
That way the Zanu PF key man President Mugabe will ensure his party is not rendered irrelevant and likewise the MDC key man Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai would monitor any attempts by Zanu PF to use Cabinet Ministers to torpedo his Party.
The premature Appointments of Provincial Governors and Resident Ministers must also be visited at this juncture and agreed with those that are deemed necessary to be allotted to the MDC being declared vacant and open to be filled by the appropriate party forthwith.
If that is not done, sooner rather than later SADC will find itself burdened by the need to mediate on that as well. The spirit and letter characterising allotment of Provincial Governorship among the parties must cascade down to Provincial Officers, diplomatic agents, consular officers, independent Commissions in terms of the Constitution and service/executive Commissions in terms of the Constitution.
Only then will it be possible for SADC and its Principals to step back and allow the inclusive government an opportunity to function while monitoring from a distance.
It must never be lost to the Troika that President Mugabe had planned to stay in office till 2010 as undisputed Head of State and has not changed those plans at all.
All his procrastination in implementing the agreed principles in the inclusive Government have everything to do with that time frame.
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