PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe told his party Wednesday that sharing power with rivals is a “humiliation” but it has to be accepted because they lost the March elections.
Mugabe was shown on state television addressing a meeting of top Zanu PF party leaders called to prepare for dividing the Cabinet with two opposition factions as stipulated in a deal signed Monday. Mugabe loyalists will lose Cabinet seats to make room for the opposition.
“If only we had not blundered in the March ... elections we wouldn't be facing this humiliation,” he said. “This is what we have to deal with.”
While Mugabe's assessment was hardly gracious, it was an indication he would not abandon the accord, and should help calm fears his agreement to cede some power for the first time in 28 years might founder.
Long-simmering political differences and Zimbabwe's economic collapse loom over the Cabinet negotiations and some people have worried the parties aren't moving fast enough to implement the deal. A resurgence of violence, though, seems unlikely. The country has been largely calm since June, and both Mugabe and his rivals say they want the agreement to work.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa told state television that the three parties involved would meet Thursday and could have a Cabinet by the end of the day. The meeting on allotting Cabinet posts had been expected Tuesday, but was delayed while Mugabe's party met on its own.
Zanu PF will name 15 ministers and eight deputy ministers and the two MDC factions will share 16 ministries and provide seven deputy ministers.
Earlier Wednesday, state media quoted Chinamasa as saying key aspects of the power-sharing deal would not go into effect until next month.
The constitution needs to be changed to create the post of Prime Minister, which is to be filled by Mugabe's main rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, who got the most votes in the first round of presidential balloting last March. Under the power-sharing deal, Mugabe remains President. - AP This story has also been published on the newzimbabwe website
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August, 2008