LEADERS of the parties to the power-sharing agreement are expected to meet in Harare today to determine which ministries would be apportioned to which party as a prelude to the appointment of Cabinet.
President Mugabe, Prime Minister-designate Mr Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister-designate Professor Arthur Mutambara appended their signatures to the agreement on Monday at a ceremony attended by 10 Sadc leaders and diplomats from various countries accredited to Zimbabwe.
Addressing a media briefing yesterday evening, Zanu-PF chief negotiator in the inter-party dialogue Cde Patrick Chinamasa, said the meeting would discuss the allocation of the 31 ministries that would make the new all-inclusive Government.
"President Mugabe will meet tomorrow (today) Mr Tsvangirai and Professor Mutambara so that they decide or finalise which ministries and deputy ministries would go to which party.
"We hope the issue would be finalised tomorrow (today). The meeting to choose who goes to which ministry would be convened later," Cde Chinamasa said.
He however, said no information was available on when the Cabinet appointments would be announced.
Cde Chinamasa, who is also Zanu-PF media and information sub-committee chairman, said the 74th Ordinary Session of the Central Committee had "unanimously endorsed with no objections" the report on the inter-party dialogue that led to the power sharing agreement.
The main agenda of the Central Commi-ttee was the talks with Cde Chinamasa and Cde Nicholas Goche, who represented Zanu-PF in the dialogue, briefing members.
"The report was well-received and endorsed by the Central Committee."
He said members, however, raised concern over "the unruly behaviour of MDC-T supporters during the signing ceremony on Monday.
"This crude and primitive behaviour manifested itself during the Official Opening of the First Session of the Seventh Parliament and the Central Committee expressed grave concern over the actions of their supporters.
"They said if the pattern continues, it would affect the relationship that has been
created between the parties.
"The meeting also asked President Mugabe to raise these concerns with Tsvangirai and the issue would be raised during the meeting tomorrow (today)," he said.
Cde Chinamasa said Zanu-PF had also received reports of violent acts being perpetrated by MDC-T supporters.
"We have received reports of violent acts against our members across the country. This started on Monday and has been taking place across the country. President Mugabe has been asked to raise and demand that the MDC-T desist from such violent acts.
"It is unfortunate that these violent acts are occurring at a time when we are beginning a new era in the country and such behaviour does not make the co-operation between the parties succeed," he said.
The three main political parties agreed to a political settlement last week and President Mugabe, Mr Tsvangirai and Professor Mutambara formally appended their signatures to the agreement on Monday
The agreement paves way for the formation of an al-inclusive Government. President Mugabe as Head of State and Government appoint his vice presidents and the Prime Minister.
There will be two deputy prime ministers, one from each MDC formation.
Under the agreement Zanu-PF will have 15 ministers, MDC-T 13 and MDC three to reflect the distribution of the popular vote during the parliamentary election on March 29.
KEY aspects of Zimbabwe's power-sharing deal will not go in effect until next month, a government official said Wednesday. Zimbabwe's constitution needs to be amended to create the post of Prime Minister, which is to be filled by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Under the power-sharing deal signed Monday, Mugabe remains President. "These amendments would be tabled before parliament when it opens next month," Mugabe aide Patrick Chinamasa told the government-controlled Herald newspaper, saying there will be no move to open parliament before October 14 as originally planned.
Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a faction that broke away from Tsvangirai's party, have pledged to make the deal work. But long-simmering and bitter differences as well as the nation's economic collapse have put the deal under intense pressure. Mugabe, 84, has been in power since independence in 1980 and went from being praised as a liberator who freed the former British colony from minority white rule to being vilified as an autocrat. He and Tsvangirai, 56, have been enemies for a decade, and Tsvangirai has been jailed, beaten, tortured and tried for treason -- charges that were dismissed in court. The power-sharing deal already has been criticised privately by some members of Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change, who are unhappy that it leaves Mugabe as President and head of the government. They fear Mugabe will exploit that, especially by playing on tensions between the two opposition groups. On Tuesday, Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara were to have met to discuss how to share Cabinet posts, but the talks were indefinitely postponed without explanation. It was unclear when the new government would be sworn in.
The agreement provides for 31 ministers -- 15 from Zanu PF, 13 from Tsvangirai's MDC and three from Mutambara's MDC. Allotting those posts will mean pushing out Mugabe loyalists who now hold Cabinet posts. The state-run Herald said the decision-making politburo of Mugabe's party met Tuesday in Harare to discuss the power-sharing agreement, and that the party's central committee was to meet Wednesday. Ruling party officials would not comment on the politburo meeting, the Herald said. Neither Nelson Chamisa, Tsvangirai's spokesman, nor George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, would speculate Wednesday on when the new government would be sworn in and get to work. Chamisa, though, said leaders would find a way to swear in Tsvangirai even if the post of Prime Minister did not yet technically exist. Continued political delay means only more time before dire economic problems can be addressed. A resurgence of violence, though, seemed unlikely.
The country has been largely calm since June, and both Mugabe and his rivals say they want the agreement to work. Chamisa said the delays were worrying in the tense country. "Clearly there is anxiety in the country," Chamisa said. "People would want to see movement in terms of the realisation of the actual deal. As the MDC, we want to urgently respond to the desperate and dire situation Zimbabweans find themselves in." Charamba, though, said he was confident talks would soon be on track. He said he was spending Wednesday at his farm outside Harare while Mugabe addressed a meeting of top party officials in Harare in preparation for further talks with the other parties. "If I was worried, I would have been in Harare," Charamba said. Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate even by the official figure of at 11 million percent, and independent economists put it much higher. Food and other basics are scare, and aid agencies say more and more Zimbabweans are going hungry.
The international Red Cross said Wednesday its trucks would leave warehouses in the main Zimbabwe cities of Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare, carrying maize, beans and cooking oil for some 24,000 needy Zimbabweans. More shipments will follow in coming months. The nation's central bank put a new 1,000 Zimbabwe dollar note into circulation Wednesday, an acknowledgment of inflation's effect on the buying power of the 500 Zimbabwe note that had been the largest denomination. Central bank governor Gideon Gono, who has been struggling to address the financial crisis, told The Herald the political settlement gave him hope.
This story has also been published on the newzimbabwe website.
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August, 2008