SADC should stop pretending Zimbabwe Agreement is on course

pic. Morgan Tsvangirai and Ian Makone in the mix at Goromonzi




The absence of Zimbabwe Prime Minister Designate Morgan Tsvangirai at the SADC Troika meeting in Mbabane Swaziland today will serve to define the seriousness with which Zanu PF and its despotic leader must approach the formation of the inclusive government or lose the lease of legitimacy the agreement to form such a government had conferred on him.


After two months of playing truant and procrastination in implementing key elements of the agreement left within his ambit to conclude by SADC mediator and former RSA President Mbeki, the message is on the wall and bare for all to read that the inclusive Government in the country is about to be suffer a still birth.

Since 15 September 2008 when he put pen to paper to the agreement strenuously cobbled by Thabo Mbeki against all odds, Mugabe has reneged on implementing the key aspects of the agreement and created an untenable negotiating climate characterised by intransigence and political mischief on his part in an unacceptable flexing of his muscles after securing undue recognition as head of State.

His arrogance that knows no boundaries like his unwelcome overstay in power has been allowed to prevail for longer than is necessary and it is encouraging to see the MDC leader who was legitimately elected president but settled for less to save lives starting to throw mud back at Mugabe and his party of insolent geriatrics.

For six months Tsvangirai has been under an unannounced Zanu PF and Mugabe travel embargo through denial of a Passport for the man the country accepts as its true and authentic leader since 29 March 2008.

He sent clear warning to Mugabe and company that they were not helping the negotiating climate by refusing him the basic travel document and yet expecting him to legitimise their stolen positions in government when on 15 August he nearly failed to attend the critical SADC heads o State Meeting in South Africa because Immigration Officers in Harare had not renewed his emergency travel documents.

Later that month the MDC had to go to Court to have Tendai Biti’s passport released to allow him to attend to negotiations to form the inclusive Government that ultimately legitimised Mugabe’s Presidency of the country after losing elections and resorting to brutal military force to retain office.

When President Mugabe agreed to form the inclusive government he must have consulted with his party and was given the green light to lead the party into the necessary negotiations. It is an indictment on the chaos that characterises his rule and Party organisation that he has at every turn sought time out from the negotiations to consult with his party.

For all we know Mugabe has never been guided by anyone when it came to Zanu PF strategies and modus operandi. All these excuses he has been making were time buying exercises in futility that one day he might live to regret.

Tsvangirai has nothing to beg from Mugabe. He has already been denied occupancy of the position every sane Zimbabwean knows he won free and square on 29 March 2008.
He had been hitherto extraordinarily politically generous to step back and legitimise Mugabe’s claim to the same office out of concern for the plight of toiling Zimbabweans under Mugabe’s rule.

Mugabe being the thick head he has always been took that to mean political weakness of not only Tsvangirai but the entire nation that supports him and SADC, AU and UN organs that supported the undemocratic process he forced in the country after losing in a democratic election.

Instead of formalising the agreement that legitimises him by confirming Tsvangirai, Mutambara and Khupe as Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers respectively he found it appropriate to deny Tsvangirai a passport and appoint the hopeless Mujuru and Msika as Vice Presidents.

Nothing has changed for the better as a consequence of those cynical appointments which he made to deal with succession strife4 in his faction torn Party.

By filling the VP posts with the dead wood that Msika and Mujuru have proven to be during their tenure of office at the same level Mugabe was sending a strong signal to Emmerson Mnangagwa that his Presidential ambitions were no nearer fulfilment than they were after the infamous Tsholotsho declaration.

For resolution those petty intra-Party squabbles to take precedence over National issues like forming an agreed Government is indicative of the spite with which Mugabe holds Zimbabweans.

Mugabe does not need any reminding that his legitimacy devolves from signatures appended on the inclusive Government formation agreement and not Zanu PF.

Of those four signatures the one that carries the most weight is that of Morgan Tsvangirai and the minute he disowns the agreement for whatever reason it will cease to carry the weight it now holds.

It is most embarrassing that a president who agreed to enter into an inclusive government before the same organisation now calling parties to mediation over disputes emerging from the agreement they witnessed being signed would find it proper to travel to the important meeting with George Charamba and a coterie of Zanu PF losers in tow at the taxpayer’s expense leaving behind the crucial Party leader with whom he is intended to be reconciled.

Now that he has categorically stated that he will not enter into negotiations aimed at legitimising Mugabe when the same Mugabe who yearns for the legitimacy behaves with scorn and unwarranted political machismo what next?

Surely Chinamasa and Charamba will not be of much use if they can’t help him convince SADC to proceed with the mediation talks and legitimise his Presidency.

For Charamba to then spew the garbage that he has let him become used to writing in the Herald that Prime Minister Designate Tsvangirai is playing hard to get and will come on an emergency travel document while travelling on state business is the height of irresponsibility that in any other democracy would end earn him summary dismissal.

How many other passports have been issued to other Zimbabweans with lesser National responsibility than Tsvangirai since the purported sanctions that deny issuance of a passport to Tsvangirai were imposed?

If SADC seriously wants to salvage the troubled inclusive government formation in the country they should start with insisting that Mugabe fires the registrar General and the Secretary for information and publicity as a confidence building measure.

Thereafter they should insist that before any talk of Cabinet portfolio sharing is entertained Mugabe must reverse all political appointments he made after the agreement was signed including that of Provincial Governors and Councillors appointed by the illegitimate Minister of Local Government Dr Ignatious Chombo.

That done Mugabe must then and by proclamation in the Government Gazette announce the appointment of Morgan Tsvangirai, Arthur Mutambara and Thokozani Khupe in the positions they were agreed to hold in the inclusive Government.

That done Sadc must insist that Mugabe can proceed to meet with the Premier do discuss which portfolio each of the 31 persons the parties to the agreement will have nominated to be in the Cabinet and National Council of Ministers will be best suited to effectively and efficiently deliver for the inclusive Government based on their qualifications and capabilities.

Should there arise a disagreement that the president and Prime Minister cannot resolve over that exercise, it should be referred to the envisaged implementation evaluation committees in the agreement and the two will be guided by recommendations there from.

Should disagreement still prevail then and only then should the matter be referred to SADC for mediation.

All this can be achieved within two weeks if strict deadlines are set for the relevant authorities to finalise the agreement implementation.

In the meantime Tsvangirai is better off without actively propping up Mugabe and let him fight his legitimacy wars as best he knows how.