ZIMBABWE’S MOVEMENT for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has called off his party’s boycott of the transitional government’s cabinet meetings following the intervention of regional leaders.
After a South African Development Community (SADC) summit in Mozambique on Thursday, convened to break Zimbabwe’s political deadlock, Mr Tsvangirai’s party confirmed it would re-engage with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and senior Zanu-PF members.
Although the MDC had been boycotting cabinet meetings, its 15 ministers continued to run their respective departments.
However, the MDC has warned that coalition partner Zanu-PF has just 30 days to address the outstanding issues blocking the full implementation of last February’s SADC-brokered deal. The party has not indicated what it will do if this fails to take place.
Three weeks ago the MDC announced it was boycotting the power-sharing deal’s cabinet meetings following the arrest of senior party member Roy Bennett, who has been charged with trying to overthrow the country’s previous administration. The trial against Mr Bennett, who was supposed to be sworn in as deputy minister for agriculture last February but was instead arrested, is due to start in Harare on Monday.
The MDC says Mr Bennett’s arrest was the breaking point. It maintains that Mr Mugabe and his party have refused to adhere to agreed elements of the deal and have treated it as a junior partner in government. The MDC has also been angered by Mr Mugabe’s unilateral appointment of persons to senior government positions.
Last month’s boycott announcement raised concerns over the durability of the transitional government and the ability of its signatories, who traditionally are political enemies, to work together for the good of Zimbabwe’s impoverished citizens.
However, Thursday’s SADC meeting has raised hopes that a breakthrough has been secured and the two parties can once again focus on resuscitating the country’s crippled economy.
Mr Tsvangirai’s spokesman, James Maridadi, said: “The prime minister has suspended his party’s partial disengagement to give dialogue another chance.”
But he added: “Unlike in the past, there is a time limit on when the negotiations are supposed to be finished.” According to the terms of the coming talks, which will be monitored by South African president Jacob Zuma, the outstanding issues between Zanu-PF and the MDC should be resolved within 15 days and implemented within 30.
Although Zanu-PF has not publicly commented on Thursday’s breakthrough, Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper yesterday brushed off Mr Tsvangirai’s concerns and again insisted the main problem facing the transitional government was western sanctions.
Since 2002 Mr Mugabe and more than 200 of his cronies have been subjected to a travel ban and asset freeze by the US, EU and other western countries.
“Zanu-PF maintains that these [MDC’s concerns] are peripheral issues compared to the substantial issue of sanctions,” an unnamed source was quoted in the paper.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe has been given an extra six months to bring order to its Marange diamond fields by the Kimberley Process, a watchdog body that aims to stop the trade in conflict diamonds.
The military took control of the diamond fields in 2007. Human Rights Watch says more than 200 illegal miners have been killed by soldiers since then.