Mugabe puts Zimbabwean Power Deal in Jeopardy
Tsvangirai Threatens to Opt Out as Mugabe Seizes Cabinet Posts
Oct 24, 2008
The deal was initially designed as a solution to the current Zimbabwe political and economic crisis in which Robert Mugabe keeps the presidential seat whilst the leader of the opposition Morgan Tsvangirai, was granted the position of Prime-Minister. Under the new agreement Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) party would retain control of the military whilst Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change would attempt to curb Zimbabwe’s downward spiral which is highlighted by inflation estimated at 11 000 000%. However, the new deal may already be on the brink of collapse as Mugabe unilaterally announced his control of all major cabinet posts, including those MDC has been campaigning for.
Seizure of Key Posts by Zanu-PF and Mugabe
On the 12th October, 2008, less than a single month after the agreement was signed, Robert Mugabe announced that he had taken control of all major cabinet posts, including the judicial and police. Over the previous weekend, Mugabe systematically allocated Zanu-PF jurisdiction over many of the security and intelligence forces whilst also grabbing the judicial portfolio and information ministry, which currently controls a large percentage of the pro-Mugabe state media.
The move is a demonstration by the Zanu-PF party after Mugabe’s obvious humiliation at signing the deal on the 17th September, 2008. However, the party is rapidly losing any support it had left after it lost the last reputable election in March of this year, and 84 year-old Mugabe may be only worsening his own position. The Mugabe administration quite clearly had no solutions to the socioeconomic crisis before the deal and will not have improved its position should MDC pull out.
The Reactions of Morgan Tsvagirai and MDC
In response to the seizure of these cabinet posts by Mugabe, Tsvangirai has threatened to opt out of the agreement and his role as prime-minister, stating the following:
"If they do it that way, we have no right to be part of such an arrangement. The people have suffered. But if it means suffering the more in order for them to get what is at stake, then so be it. We will renegotiate until an agreement is reached but that does not mean we will compromise for the sake of it."
The statement was a firm one by Tsvangirai and the MDC party who have publicly announced that they would agree to Zanu-PF having authority over the military but must oversee home affairs such as the judicial and policing systems in order to avoid a repeat of the violent campaigns Mugabe has implicated in the past.
The MDC went even further later in the week by referring to the cabinet seizure as a "giant act of madness which puts the whole deal into jeopardy. The elite in Zanu-PF is not interested in addressing the current challenges in the country. Instead, they are obsessed with power retention at all costs."
Potential Resolutions to the In-Fighting
On October 20th, 2008, Tsvangirai showed he would not be bullied into a minority position in the government and refused to meet Mugabe and four other regional leaders in Swaziland and it was hinted that he could miss a summit this weekend aimed at saving the ailing deal. However, spokesperson for the MDC, Nelson Chamisa, revealed today that the meeting would not be boycotted. He went on to say:
"Monday's platform gives us a special window of opportunity to state our compelling case for the equitable distribution of key ministries under the power sharing agreement."
The agreement was initially brokered by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, and already Mbeki has attempted to save it by meeting both the President and Prime Minister on October 13th, 2008. No resolution was achieved through this mediation and the MDC responded by reporting a loss of faith in the former South African President.
Thus it seems that the piece of legislation initially hailed as a superb work of African Democracy is falling apart, with Mugabe at the wheel once more.
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