HOME

Two months after the global political agreement on the establishment of an all-inclusive government was signed by Zimbabwe’s main political rivals, the nation awaits the translation of the black and white print into concrete action.

More worrisome to many Zimbabweans is that even before the ink on the signatures to the agreement has dried, there is already discord with the main parties involved, President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF and the opposition MDC-T, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, accusing each other of not acting in good faith.

Many people believe that the formation of an all-inclusive government will lead to the re-opening of lines of credit and lifting of economic sanctions, which will translate into a revival of the economy, resolution of the current political crisis and renewal of a state battered by many other hardships.

However, some now regard the talks as “jokes” as their hopes continue to fade amid continued political bickering between the major parties.

According to the global agreement, Mugabe remains president of Zimbabwe and chairs Cabinet, while Tsvangirai becomes prime minister and deputy chair of Cabinet. Professor Arthur Mutambara of the smaller MDC faction becomes deputy prime minister.

President Mugabe further appoints two vice presidents from his party, while Tsvangirai chooses a deputy prime minister to partner Mutambara. The ruling Zanu PF retains 15 Cabinet posts while the combined opposition MDC get 16.

Mugabe has already appointed his two deputies, but has not been able to make any other appointments, despite promises to have done so by now.

Problems towards the formation of the all-inclusive government started with President Mugabe gazetting ministerial portfolios allocated to each of the three political parties.

MDC-T was not happy with the exercise, with Tsvangirai saying that Mugabe had allocated all the important ministries such as information and publicity, home affairs, defence, national security, local government and foreign affairs to his party Zanu PF and only parceled out the less important ones to the two MDC formations.

Regional grouping SADC ruled at an extra-ordinary summit in South Africa that the Ministry of Home Affairs, which appeared to be at the center of dispute between Mugabe and Tsvangirai, be co-managed by their two parties, subject to review after six months.

President Mugabe and Mutambara said they would go by the SADC decision, while Tsvangirai initially refused to participate arguing that the issue was not just about being in government, but about sharing of power.

It would have made sense, he argued, for the home affairs portfolio to be allocated to his party, given that Zanu PF had taken the other powerful ministries.

He added that the dispute over the Ministry of Home Affairs was just one of several issues which needed to be tackled before an all-inclusive government was put in place, chief among them the amendment of the constitution of Zimbabwe to create the positions of prime minister and deputy prime ministers.

The amendment of the constitution was a pre-condition to the creation of an all-inclusive government, he said.

“Secondly, we had also made it clear that the key issue of the enactment of Constitutional Amendment No. 19 was a precondition to the formation of a new government. Most importantly, the offices being created in the global political agreement, such as that of the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, could only come into being with Constitutional Amendment No. 19,” Tsvangirai told a news conference soon after the SADC summit.

He alleged that there was “serious lack of sincerity” on the part of Zanu PF for his party to proceed to be part of government on the basis of good faith and not grounded on a legal foundation.

However, the MDC national council finally agreed to participate in the all-inclusive government, although it said it wanted the constitution to be amended first so that the position of prime minister is created through an Act of Parliament and should not merely be a Presidential appointment.

Academic and political commentator Eldred Masunungure believes that an all-inclusive government between Zanu PF and the two MDC factions can only work if there is trust and goodwill between the principals.

The University of Zimbabwe political science professor said the political environment in Zimbabwe was characterized by lack of trust, especially between the major protagonists, President Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai.

Masunungure said he would want a situation where the two leaders buried the hatchet and let national interest take precedence over party and personal interests.

“It is impossible to say with certainty whether the government will work because there are too many factors at play. It can work, it may work, but with difficulty. It is workable based on certain conditionalities, based upon the existence of mutual goodwill, the existence of a positive spirit among the principals,” said Masunungure.

“The difficulty of making the all-inclusive government work arises from the embedded distrust among the three protagonists, particularly between President Mugabe and Zanu PF on the one hand and Mr Tsvangirai and his faction of the MDC on the other hand,” he said.

Mutambara’s smaller MDC faction, although with few representatives in both Parliament and Senate, wields the balance of power and has become an important ally to MDC-T. The party has also refused to participate in any government which has no representation from MDC-T.

While many people have welcomed the Sept. 15 global agreement which paved the way for the formation of a government involving all the three political parties represented in Parliament and Senate, Masunungure observes “a very difficult and hostile political environment” where the leaders continue to trade accusations and counter-accusations.

As the major political parties continue to bicker, the United Nations has launched a 500 million U.S. dollars appeal to the international community to provide help to millions of Zimbabweans who face starvation and are currently under siege from a cholera pandemic which has so far killed about 400 people throughout the country.

Hospitals are virtually closed because apart from a shortage of drugs, doctors and nurses are literally on strike.

The same situation prevails in schools where some teachers have said they will only return to work next year, while the sitting of public examinations was almost disrupted.

In tertiary institutions, halls of residence have been shut down and students have to find alternative and expensive accommodation outside their campuses.

All this comes with galloping inflation of more than 230 million percent, the highest in the world, and with Zimbabweans still on budgets being forced to revise them everyday.

Non-governmental organisations, which form part of the UN joint appeal, say they are very concerned about the humanitarian crisis that has gripped Zimbabwe.

National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations advocacy and policy manager Fambai Ngirande said while the global political agreement paving the way for an all-inclusive government seemed to be the only hope for Zimbabwe to emerge from its political and economic quagmire, it was still not the best option for the country.

There were concerns of democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law which needed to be tackled first if the perceived government was to work, he said.

“The global agreement seems to be our best chance but it is not the best possible outcome,” he said, adding that the outcome he would have wanted was one where the will of the people was respected.

“From a civil society point of view we are concerned about the people who are suffering. The outcome of their vote was sabotaged and right now we have a country running on remote control. There is no government and there is no national budget. The all-inclusive government will not work because the structural conditions are not ripe for democracy, human rights and respect for the rule of law,” Ngirande said.

The government should be controlled by the people and should be free of corruption, Ngirande said.

“We have a humanitarian crisis in the country, but because there has not been a government in place, we have had ad hoc responses to the crisis, which is worsening the situation,” he added.

Ngirande alleged that because of starvation, some people who had been given maize seed they fell ill after washing off pesticides before boiling it for food.

Zimbabweans are now left wondering whether the Sept. 15 agreement is just another theatrical act by the parties involved or will bring food on their tables.

What they want is not merely co-existence between the rival political parties, but co-operation which will improve their lives, uplift them from poverty and disease and restore their dignity.

Even if the agreement works for Zimbabwe, how long will it take the international community, which has become Zimbabwe’s economic lifeline, to embrace it?