Tsvangirai should sign deal

July 21 has gone down in history as the day when hope for building a durable national consensus to resolve the prevailing political and economic challenges, was ignited. On that day, in the ambience of five-star Rainbow Towers in Harare, the country’s three major political leaders met face-to-face, probably for the first time in their lives. Sadc-mandated facilitator to the tripartite talks, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa did what was unthinkable before that day — bringing to the same table, at the same time — the political leaders, despite their fundamental ideological differences. The entire population was literally on edge as Zanu-PF leader, President Mugabe and Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara of MDC-T and MDC respectively signed the now famous Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), setting the tone and the terms for more earnest inter-party talks. During the marathon talks, which started in March last year, but picked up momentum after the presidential election run-off on 27 June, all the three sets of negotiators agreed on most of the substantive matters that were under discussion. As the teams negotiated — with regular consultations with their principals — the negotiators signed agreements after every stage. But as it turns out six weeks after the leaders appended their signatures to the MoU, prospects for the signing of the magic agreement to pave way for the establishment of an all-inclusive government by President Mugabe, have apparently dimmed because of Mr Tsvangirai’s refusal to sign the final pact. While Mr Tsvangirai had initially agreed to the new structure of the government but later reneged, President Mugabe and Prof Mutambara have agreed to the deal. “It is like a mother who spends nine months pregnant, but miscarries at the last moment,” said an analyst. Although the 21 July meeting does not match the other meeting of local political belligerents in independent Zimbabwe — the signing of the Unity Accord on 22 December 1987 — it still was a milestone in the ongoing efforts to resolve the prevailing economic and political challenges. As hope mounted over the possibility of the signing, President Mbeki at one point in July spent four days in the country, trying to hammer out a deal. The deal did not come. He returned home, but talks continued and last week the negotiators were in South Africa again. Undeterred by the slow progress in the dialogue, President Mbeki was expected to fly into Harare again yesterday to convince Mr Tsvangirai to sign the pact. Originally, when he refused to sign the agreement, the MDC-T leader, who had been given and accepted the post of Prime Minister in the Government, sought to concentrate all executive power on himself. That was going to relegate President Mugabe, winner of the presidential election run-off into some sort of semi-retirement as a ceremonial head of State. Analysts saw this as an attempt to ease President Mugabe out of office through a boardroom power transfer when in fact the parties are negotiating for a power-sharing deal. Last week, Mr Tsvangirai further revised his demands. Now he wants to squeeze out more concessions from President Mugabe. He wants to co-chair Cabinet with President Mugabe, as opposed to the original agreement when he would only do so in the absence of the President. He also wants to open fresh negotiations on all issues that had been discussed and agreed to in addition to complaining about last Tuesday’s official opening of Parliament, and the appointment of governors and senators. At some point, the MDC-T leader said what his faction wants are not positions, but power and that it was better not to have a deal at all, than to have what he described as a “bad deal”. But the ruling party has indicated that it would not give him more power, outside the agreed framework. Last weekend, Zanu-PF chief negotiator, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, said there was no need for more talks or concessions, since a deal was already on the table, awaiting Mr Tsvangirai’s signature. President Mugabe underscored that view on Wednesday, urging Mr Tsvangirai to sign the agreement by yesterday, failure of which he would proceed to form a government. The President intimated that the MDC-T leader was being influenced by his Western backers not to sign the agreement which Sadc leaders have already said forms a workable platform for the country to move forward. “We know that it is the British government behind it,” said President Mugabe, referring to Mr Tsvangirai’s refusal to append his signature. “It is the British government which does not want an agreement, and as long as they do not want, he will not sign. They want sanctions to continue to punish us into an agreement with them. It is the land question and all this talk about democracy is nonsense. “We are a Government, and we are a Government that is empowered by elections. So we should form a Cabinet. We will not allow a situation where we will not have a Cabinet forever. If after tomorrow (yesterday) Tsvangirai does not want to sign; we will certainly put together a Cabinet. We feel frozen at the moment.” A political settlement is seen as a huge step towards achieving economic stability in the short-term, recovery and growth in the middle- to long-term. With a political settlement in place, it is believed that the disastrous sanctions would be lifted or at least eased. But as the talks stall, the economic hardships hitting the poor continue to worsen. When the MoU was signed, the local business community joined the cross-section of Zimbabweans in hailing the signing. But developments between then and now appear to have dashed their hopes. African Banking Corporation chairman, Mr Oliver Chidawu, this week said in a statement accompanying the financial institution’s recent result, that a deal looks increasingly unlikely. He said: “The socio-economic conditions in Zimbabwe remain a serious cause for concern. Negotiations for a power sharing deal appear to be stalling with no resolution in sight.” However, while acknowledging that the economy is facing challenges, President Mugabe told guests during a luncheon held after he officially opened the first session of the Seventh Parliament of Zimbabwe that the economy would never collapse. The President said with the abundant resources, especially minerals, which the country has, the economy would remain afloat despite the odds. Professor Claude Mararike, a political commentator blamed MDC-T backers for the delay in the attainment of a settlement and the party itself for its failure to put the welfare of the electorate at heart. “It was always going to be difficult to try to strike a deal with them (MDC-T) because of the external influence which we know is always brought to bear on them,” said Prof Mararike, a university lecturer. “They want to further tighten sanctions with the hope of collapsing the economy, and with it, the Government. But we do not know if and when that will happen.” He urged Zimbabweans to remain steadfast in defending their national interests. From the beginning, the signs for a deal being reached were always not encouraging. The endorsement of the MoU was delayed by about four days with Mr Tsvangirai saying he had been told by African Union chairman, Mr Jean Ping, not to sign. Two weeks before that, on 5 July, the same Mr Tsvangirai snubbed what was expected to be the first face-to-face meeting between him and President Mugabe and Prof. Mutambara. Is the waiting game going to continue?