Zimbabwe

Mugabe cuts MDC out of key posts

Article published on the 2008-10-11 Latest update 2008-10-12 15:01 TU

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
(Photo: Reuters)

Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai threatened to pull out of a power-sharing deal after President Robert Mugabe awarded nearly all key ministries to his Zanu-PF party. The list gives Mugabe’s party 14 ministries, including Defence, Home and foreign affairs, Justice, Local government and Media. The MDC received 16 mostly minor ministries including Sport, Arts and culture and Education.

"If they [ZANU-PF] do it that way, we have no right to be part of such an arrangement," said Tsvangirai at a support rally in Harare on Sunday.

"We will renegotiate until an agreement is reached but that does not mean we will compromise for the sake of it," he said. "We had thought that they would be reasonable and equitable in power-sharing. If you say ‘all the 15 ministries which are key are mine’, we disagree.”

The list came as a surprise to MDC members, who Friday had called in former South African President Thabo Mbeki to mediate between the two parties in the allocation of ministries. He is to arrive in Harare on Monday.

“It may well plunge the negotiations on the cabinet into a deadlock,” said correspondent Ryan Truscott.

“Most Zimbabweans thought that Thabo Mbeki was coming to Zimbabwe to undo the deadlock … Zanu-PF, however, insists there is no deadlock,” he said.

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the Zanu-PF “are taking the people of Zimbabwe for a ride”.

He told RFI that he is hoping Mbeki can help mediate the current situation.

“We are hoping that Mr. Mbeki, when he comes as the mediator on behalf of SADC and the African Union, he will be able to unlock the political impasse and possibly move the process forward,” he said. “So that we are able to negotiate on our own so that we are able to create a government that will respond to bread and butter issues being raised by Zimbabwe.”

One of the MDC’s expectations was that it would get control of the police if Zanu-PF controlled the army.

One of the few prestigious posts granted to the MDC on the list was the Ministry of Finance. Yet this could be more of a poisoned chalice for the opposition, as Zimbabwe’s economy is in tatters.

“Even if the MDC were to take the Ministry of Finance, under the current laws, President Mugabe still gets to appoint the central banks governor, which is really the most powerful financial position in the country,” said Truscott.