Zimbabwe

Mugabe swears in two VPs, Mbeki arrives to mediate

Article published on the 2008-10-13 Latest update 2008-10-13 12:19 TU

Tsvangirai greets supporters at the rally
(Credit: Reuters)

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe swore in two vice presidents on Monday, hours before former South African president Thabo Mbeki was to arrive in the capital to mediate the ongoing crisis in the power-sharing government. Mugabe is allowed to choose his own vice presidents, but he did not involve the opposition party in the selection, casting doubt on what Mbeki can achieve.

"What they have to recognize is the limits of the negotiating position," Adam Habib, a political scientist at the University of Johannesburg, told RFI.

The shaky, one-month-old power-sharing government forged between President Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and minority opposition leader Arthur Mutambara appears on its last legs after Mugabe unilaterally announced Friday that key government portfolios would go to his ZanuU-PF party members.

Tsvangirai assembled a rally in Harare on Sunday, stating his willingness to negotiate. But he threatened to pull out of the deal altogether if Zanu-PF members actually got the key army, police and foreign affairs portfolios.

"If they [Zanu-PF] do it that way, we have no right to be part of such an arrangement," Tsvangirai told 8,000 supporters at the rally.

Tsvangirai was allocated 13 less-significant ministries, while Mutambara, part of an MDC breakaway faction, would get three.

Meanwhile, Thabo Mbeki, the broker of the original 15 September deal, was called on by the opposition parties to mediate yet again the latest crisis in Harare.

Mbeki's own personal political fortune in his own country has changed over the past few months, however, as he was forced to step down as president of South Africa by his own party.

Analysts wonder if he has the political will to successfully negotiate the latest stumbling block in Harare.

Habib is optimistic: “I wouldn't say it's the end game yet,” he said. “I think it's very simply, what other alternative there is?"

 
"Zanu-PF needs the economy put right. It recognises the economy can only be put right with international aid, and it recognises that the MDC is the key to that aid," added Habib.

Inflation in Zimbabwe soared to 231 per cent in July, in the face of lack of food and skyrocketing unemployment.