Supporters of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe are urgentlycalling on the ruling party to constitute a government with or without theopposition. The ultimatum reportedly comes after opposition demands for freshelections if the power-sharing impasse is not promptly resolved. Partisans ofthe ruling ZANU-PF party blame the opposition Movement for Democratic Change(MDC) for the impasse after the MDC accused President Mugabe of awarding topministerial positions to his ruling party.
Butthe opposition contends that only fresh elections would resolve adispute over who controls key cabinet posts. The ministerial appointments arewidely viewed as a make-or-break issue under a power-sharing pact signed withPresident Mugabe. The political impasse is reportedly raising fears that lastmonth's power-sharing deal may collapse and worsen Zimbabwe's economic crisis.
Sydney Masamvu is a Zimbabweanalyst with the International Crisis Group in South Africa. He tells reporterPeter Clottey from the capital, Pretoria that the ruling party is showingarrogance in the face of economic and political crisis.
"This is a statement comingfrom the hardliners within the ZANU-PF who from the onset wanted to see thisdeal collapse. After the 27 of June, when Mugabe claimed that hehad won a landslide victory, he did not proceed to form a government, eventhough he claimed that he had won a landslide election victory for the simplereason that he knew that his so-called landslide victory was a sham," Masamvusaid.
He said the ruling party'sclaim of an overwhelming election run-off win was not credible.
"And there was no way he wasgoing to form a government alone which would be recognized by the rest of theworld, and as such, I think this statement is actually meant to perpetuatetheir self interest. But they are disconnected from the reality on the ground,which actually cries out for a political settlement in Zimbabwe to turn aroundthe fortunes of the country," he noted.
Masamvu said there was needfor the opposition to match the ruling ZANU-PF party strategically in thestalled negotiations.
"I think the issue of MorganTsvangirai participating or not participating in next Mondays' peacenegotiations is actually an issue of power game to leverage his bargainingposition. But it is actually important to know that if this agreement fails totake off, then the only option is to go back again to another election whichwould be internationally supervised in free and fair conditions, which shouldyield a government chosen by Zimbabweans with a full mandate to put the countryon a path to economic and political recovery," Masamvu pointed out.
He said it would bedifficult for the ruling party to refuse to accept international supervision ofan election if it comes down to it.
"Their choices are fairlylimited. They can go it alone and continue to be isolated and have sanctionsreinforced. They can compromise. But still what you can see is that events ofthe past weeks have shown that even if a deal is worked out between ZANU-PF andthe MDC and an inclusive government is formed, it is a matter of time before itcrumbles, because you can see that there is a lot of mistrust. There seems tobe no appetite, and there is no chemistry for the ZANU-PF to work with the MDCin a corporative government. The appetite is really not there, and as such, youcan actually see that this deal is actually dead before it even started," hesaid.
Masamvu said there seems tobe too much suspicion from both the ruling party and the opposition MDC whichhas led to the political impasse.
"What is lacking is actuallygoodwill from the ruling ZANU-PF, which is scuttling this deal. As much asthere is optimism from people who are putting the suffering of the people inthe negotiations, they have the optimism and the willingness to make this dealwork," Masamvu noted.