Messages From Zimbabwe

Five million Zimbabweans are in need of food aid but supplies in South African warehouses risk being sent elsewhere because of a ban on aid agency operations. The ban was imposed by President Robert Mugabe’s regime after aid agencies were accused of campaigning for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change - allegations they strongly deny. Under the terms of the memorandum of understanding governing the talks between the political parties, it was supposed to be lifted, but with the talks deadlocked over power-sharing arrangements, the ruling ZANU PF party has so far refused to do so. “The government knows this is nonsense, we work around the world and stay out of politics,” said the director of a humanitarian agency who did not want himself or his organisation identified. Zimbabwe has had its worst summer harvest in living memory and five million people, almost half the population, are expected to need food before the next harvest in April.

“Reports are coming in of seriously malnourished children,” said the official. “We are desperate to get working but until the World Food Programme signs an agreement with the government we can’t. Even some top ZANU PF politicians are encouraging us to break the ban as there is pressure from traditional leaders for food aid.” The country director of one of the largest distribution agencies, who also did not want to be identified, said: “If the ban is lifted it will take us another month to set up. Food in warehouses in South Africa may be sent to other countries or else it will become stale.” The government has imported no maize, the staple food, for more than a month, and even within the government welfare department officials do not know if the ban will be lifted. “Honestly I don’t know, and we know the situation is bad,” said a senior staff member who asked not to be named.

Some essentials are available on the black market, but most Zimbabweans cannot afford to buy them, with unemployment at at least 80 per cent and prices four times higher than in neighbouring South Africa. A teacher’s monthly salary is less than the cost of a 10 kg bag of maize meal – which would last a small family about a week. The worst hit are the elderly caring for grandchildren orphaned by the country’s Aids epidemic. Loice Marowya, 68 and her husband Jonah 74, worked for the post office for 40 years, but their pension is so ravaged by hyperinflation that it is less than the bus fare he would have to pay to go to collect it. They care for two grandchildren and Mrs Marowya said: “What is really happening? I can’t even buy a meal for my grandchildren. Every time I look at them my heart bleeds and I cry. We don’t even light a fire at night because there is nothing to cook.”

In Zengeza township, east of Harare, Diana Chisesu Uta, 70, looks after four grandchildren aged 10 to 17. Her maize meal and sugar containers were empty, and all she had to share with them was a small piece of stale bread. “These politicians are liars, the last time they came here they promised us food, and up to now, nothing has come,” she said. “We hope Britain and America will send us food tomorrow.” Hundreds of millions of pounds of international aid and reconstruction assistance is in the pipeline to help rebuild Zimbabwe if and when a new government is formed that tackles the country’s myriad problems, but with talks between ZANU PF and the MDC paralysed, the aid is on hold. Similarly, the deadlock means the economy continues to spiral downwards, hyperinflation rages on, and shop supplies are minimal to non-existent.

(Source)

Arthur Mutambara, leader of the breakaway faction of the Movement for Democratic Change, on ABC Radio National’s Saturday Extra:

Who are you? How dare you undermine our intelligence? How dare you, you are so racist to the extent that you can’t guarantee us, give us the respect, the vote of confidence that we can make our own decisions.

Geraldine Doogue: Well, let …

Mutambara: You are collectively stupid…

Doogue: Let me…

Mutambara:… collective foolishness. We won’t allow Australia to judge our agreement. It’s none of your business.

Doogue: Let me bring up the issue of the…

Mutambara: I haven’t finished. Shame on you for expressing no confidence in Morgan Tsvangirai. Shame on you for expressing no confidence in Mugabe. Shame on you for expressing no confidence in Mutambara. We will not brook that nonsense.

Doogue: Is it possible that you or Mr Tsvangirai could be walking into a trap as Joshua Nkomo did in the ’80s, where it looked like a power-sharing agreement and in fact as you know…

Mutambara: I have a question. Do you think I am stupid? When you ask that question you think we are foolish and we are very offended that you think we are that stupid. We are smarter than the Australians. We are smarter than the Americans. We went to better schools than most of these leaders in America, in Britain and in Australia. I am coming out of Oxford. None of your prime ministers can challenge me intellectually. So how do you patronise me and tell me that I’m going to be hoodwinked by Mugabe.

ZimDaily.com reports:

Following media reports that Professor Arthur Mutambara had agreed with Mugabe that he becomes one of the deputy prime ministers, I wrote to Professor Mutambara. I was shocked with the response that I got: “Stop all communication to me please. Why can’t you find better things to do with your life? Foolish loser.”

(Source: by email)

Zimbabwe’s negotiating parties say they are still waiting to hear from facilitator President Thabo Mbeki on the way forward after this weekend’s SADC summit failed to secure a deal to end the Zimbabwe crisis. But authoritative sources warned that the deadlock would not be easily resolved, as Mbeki felt he had done all he could and now hoped that Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai would change his mind and sign a controversial deal that is on the table. Tsvangirai has steadfastly refused to endorse the deal because it keeps him in a junior role to Mugabe in any government. But Mbeki believes it is an “important starting point”, said one source. The actual negotiations on a way forward had not resumed yesterday, despite reports that they were continuing. Both negotiators from the two formations of the MDC confirmed that they were still waiting to hear from Mbeki.

ZANU PF negotiators, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour Minister Nicholas Goche, left for Harare with Mugabe at the end of the Southern African Development Community summit on Sunday. Welshman Ncube, chief negotiator of Arthur Mutambara’s MDC faction, left for Harare yesterday. He said he had not heard anything from Mbeki. Tsvangirai said he was also waiting to hear from Mbeki. A source close to Mbeki, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “If he reconvenes the dialogue, it will only be for the purposes of persuading Tsvangirai to sign the deal that is on the table, which the MDC leader has thus far refused to do. “He (Mbeki) is unlikely to reopen the dialogue on the substantive issues because he spent almost a week in Zimbabwe and failed to get Tsvangirai and Mugabe to find common ground on the outstanding substantive issues. There is no sign that the parties would change their positions.” A Zimbabwean source close to the dialogue said that as far as he was concerned, the “dialogue is most probably now dead”. “It’s either Tsvangirai signs, or he doesn’t and nothing happens,” said the official.

(Source)

ZNU 134 is released this morning. For an unknown reason, I have had to reclaim my Odeo page and as a result, I have not been able to upload this episode to that page.But you can hear the programme using the multiplayers in the right hand side bar of The Bearded Man blog, or from here, whilst you can download the programme here.

In this episode I look at Mugabe’s inability to stand by any agreement, whilst I question the alacrity of ZANU PF defending Mugabe, asking if it is calculated disinformation or blind loyalty… and finally I have a look at who is fooling who as events unfold in Zimbabwe?

Thank you for your continued support of this endeavour.

Take care.

‘debvhu

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has offered Morgan Tsvangirai a 50-50 power-sharing deal as prime minister with President Robert Mugabe, but the Movement for Democratic Change rejected this, offering the prime minister post to Mugabe instead. A furious Mugabe rejected the counter-offer, sources said last night. But the MDC scored a symbolic victory in the “recognition” by the SADC that parliament may have to be convened even as talks continued - based “on the will of the people” as expressed by the results of the March 29 parliamentary elections, which the MDC won. However, such a move might scupper the dialogue between the three negotiating parties because it means Mugabe would immediately have to appoint a new cabinet. Doing this before the negotiations are completed would entail Tsvangirai being excluded from a new government, contrary to an African Union resolution demanding the formation of an all-inclusive government. The latest bargaining came at an extraordinary “summit organ troika” meeting of the SADC’s organ for politics, defence and security co-operation. This meant that 14 leaders - minus Botswana, but with new member Seychelles - met under the chair of Swazi King Mswati the Third to discuss the Zimbabwe crisis.

According to impeccable sources, the meeting, which included Mugabe, offered the 50-50 deal to try to break the latest impasse in the talks, which President Thabo Mbeki last night said were about 15 months old. The MDC came with a counter-proposal, saying that since ZANU PF was now willing to share power equally, it could just as well accept Mugabe as prime minister. However, Mugabe rejected this and the meeting adjourned. The meeting came after the closing ceremony of the 28th SADC summit in Sandton, where Mbeki took over as the new chair of the SADC. Mswati took over as chair of the organ in the place of Angolan President Jose dos Santos. At a press briefing after the SADC meeting, Mbeki indicated that the negotiations were continuing, but said it was impossible to say when an agreement would be reached. He read from a communique that expressed the organ’s view that parliament might have to be convened. Sources at the meeting said certain leaders were concerned that the legality of dealings in and with Zimbabwe might be affected by the continued failure to convene parliament. In terms of Zimbabwe’s constitution, the deadline for convening parliament has expired.

(Source)

As Zimbabwe’s government and opposition continue to hold power-sharing talks, the BBC’s Africa correspondent Orla Guerin reports undercover from inside Zimbabwe - where BBC journalists are banned - on opposition worries at whether promises will be fulfilled.

After months of state-sponsored violence and intimidation, and a sham election run-off, it is easy to see why Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC (the Movement for Democratic Change) has a problem with trust.

Many MDC supporters and officials we have spoken to here in Zimbabwe believe that the President Robert Mugabe has no intention of ceding any real authority to their leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Some fear that a power-sharing formula could be a trap at best, and a political death sentence at worst.

MDC insiders joke grimly that President Mugabe only wants to give Mr Tsvangirai one thing - responsibility for trying to fix Zimbabwe’s ruined economy.

“You can never trust ZANU PF,” said MDC councillor Chengerai Mangezuo, who has the trademark of opposition activists - broken limbs. He is in hospital with two broken legs.

“Today they share power, and tomorrow they turn things upside down.”

The MDC supporter in the bed opposite him agreed.

“ZANU PF is not a party you can trust,” said Rufaro Chakawarika, who also has two broken legs. “If we look back at what they promised people, they didn’t do it. They might agree on some aspects and tomorrow it will never be fulfilled.”

These two bedridden casualties of the fight for change agree on something else - that Robert Mugabe should face charges.

“I would be happy to see him tried,” said Mr Chakawarika, “so that in future he would not send his people to go in the country and attack innocent people. Once he remains in power this is going to happen again and again.”

Mr Mengezuo believes that - as long as ZANU PF holds power - his life is at risk.

“They want to have a by-election, so they will kill me to have it. They will come again, I know they will come again,” he says.

These men like other opposition activists we have met say they still want to see an agreement, but only if it puts real power in the hands of Morgan Tsvangirai.

They argue that anything less would be a betrayal of all those killed since Zimbabwe went to the polls. Reliable sources here say the death toll has now reached almost 200.

Abigail Chiroto was one of them - a 26-year-old wife and mother, taken from her home in June, by armed supporters of ZANU PF.

Her four-year-old son Ashley was abducted with her, and witnessed some of his mother’s final anguish.

Ashley is now a solemn, withdrawn child. When we met, he shook my hand silently, then dropped his eyes to the ground.

“Since Ashley’s mother was abducted, he doesn’t talk much,” said his father Emmanual Chiroto, an MDC MP, formerly mayor-elect of Harare.

But sometimes the little boy asks questions for which his father has no answer - like when will he be able to see his mother again.

“He wants to drive to the place where they left her, and make sure she is no longer there,” said Mr Chiroto.

The MP wants justice for the church-going woman he calls his “perfect-partner for life”.

“She was so nice,” he said, “always encouraging me. We never had a quarrel. She can never be replaced.”

He says there can be no new beginning for Zimbabwe, and no power-sharing agreement, unless the guilty are punished.

“I would be happy to work very hard for this country,” he says “as long as there is justice and the rule of law is respected, and those that committed crimes are actually brought to book. But without that I feel that my wife died for nothing.”

While the opposition wants justice, many of President Mugabe’s henchmen want a blanket amnesty. It is understood that his hardline security chiefs are particularly concerned about that.

Mr Mugabe’s critics say he is simply going through the motions, and trying to repair his image by appearing to be willing to share power.

The opposition maintains that Morgan Tsvangirai knows his foe, and is not going to be fooled by that.

For this weary and broke nation, there is a great deal at stake. Only real change will trigger an international rescue package - Western donors do not plan on lining the regime’s pockets.

One newspaper here says these are “painful days, of hoping and waiting”.

For many in Zimbabwe it is a hungry wait, but opposition supporters may be hungrier than most.

Government grain supplies - such as they are - do not go to opposition strongholds, and foreign aid organisations have been banned from operating.

“Our people are hungry,” one MDC official told me this week.

“The government is doing this deliberately, because when people are hungry, they are pliable.”

But hungry or not, many opposition supporters are not ready to swallow an agreement that leaves Robert Mugabe in control here. Better no deal at all, they say, than a bad one.

(Source)

The SADC will today endorse Robert Mugabe’s claim to be the legitimate president of Zimbabwe by excluding opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara from its 28th summit. The endorsement will come despite the boycott by President Ian Khama of Botswana of the summit because of the invitation to Mugabe, and in the face of several calls from organisations all across the region for the summit to declare Mugabe’s presidency illegitimate. Some will be joining a march in Sandton today to protest against Mugabe’s presence at the summit, as well as that of Swaziland’s King Mswati III, mainly because his “feudalist” regime bans political parties. The king will take over as the chair of the organ on security and politics on Sunday, the committee of the summit tasked with dealing with crises like that in Zimbabwe.

The leaders of the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change have been invited to the summit, SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said at a Press conference last night in Sandton. But they were only scheduled to address the troika of the organ at the “summit level”. The troika consists of the current chairman, Jose dos Santos of Angola, Mswati and Tanzania’s Jaya Kikwete. SADC is an inter-governmental organisation, and inter-political, Dlamini-Zuma said, and the summit would therefore only be joined by Mugabe. Executive secretary Tomaz Salamao said SADC was a family, and the absence of one member could not be allowed to undermine the presence of the other 13 heads of state. Zambia’s ailing President Levy Mwanawasa will send a special representative.

Tsvangirai yesterday held discussions with President Thabo Mbeki after being held briefly at Harare airport on his way to the summit. The delay led to him missing his flight. Asked for comment, Dlamini-Zuma said Tsvangirai’s “detention”, as she called it, was unacceptable to South Africa, “especially in the context of trying to resolve the Zimbabwe situation”. It was not clear whether the matter would be raised with Mugabe at the summit. On Khama’s non-attendance, Dlamini-Zuma said Botswana was a sovereign state, and that his decision would not diminish the importance of unity within SADC. It would actually make it important, she said. All eyes will be on this morning’s opening ceremony. Last year Mugabe was given a standing ovation when he entered the summit, held in Lusaka.

Meanwhile, Basildon Peta reports that Mbeki appeared to be involved in a “final push” to encourage an agreement among Zimbabwe’s warring parties ahead of a today’s summit. Late yesterday he was meeting Mugabe who is already in the country. Mbeki’s spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga confirmed his meeting with Mugabe. He said Mbeki would also meet Arthur Mutambara, leader of a smaller faction of the MDC, before meeting MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai last night. Asked why Mbeki was meeting the leaders separately when he had just sat with them around the same table in Harare, Ratshitanga said: “Anyone familiar with conflict resolution processes around the world will not attach any value to that question. At some point you meet them as a group (when resolving a conflict). At some point you meet them individually. This is not complicated mathematics.”

Ratshitanga dismissed questions about whether Mbeki was involved in a “final push” as “deeply offensive”. “When we visited Zimbabwe the other time, you people (media) said we were eager to get a deal to please the G8 as if all our visits to Zimbabwe have preceded G8 summits. We are doing what we are doing because we are committed to helping parties in Zimbabwe resolve the challenges in our neighbouring country. We are not doing it to get a deal to parade at summits as if we were beauty queens on the ramp,” he said. Mbeki’s Zimbabwe intervention has stalled over Tsvangirai’s demand for executive powers in line with the March 29 election he won. Tsvangirai has rejected a power-sharing deal he believes would relegate him to a “ceremonial prime minister’s position” with Mugabe still in charge.

(Source)

Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai walked out of negotiations in Harare knowing that he will have to return and confident that he will do so in a stronger bargaining position. The latest deadlock has highlighted the tensions in the MDC. Some senior members were keen for Tsvangirai to sign the deal already on the table, which centrally provides that Britain will meet the claims of dispossessed farmers and that Western sanctions against ZANU PF leaders should be dropped. The senior MDC members argued that they could not allow the suffering of ordinary Zimbabweans to continue. However, the respective positions of Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe in a national unity government continue to be the main stumbling block, with Tsvangirai insisting that the ZANU PF leader should be stripped of all executive power. A close observer said Tsvangirai walked out believing that he could clinch a more favourable deal if he hangs back. “He will return to the talks. But to some extent he is underestimating Mugabe’s stubbornness - Mugabe can live with a country that is falling apart.” Western diplomats remain adamant that the outcome of the talks must reflect the March 29 election result with Tsvangirai as head of state with full executive powers. They indicated they might accept a titular role for Mugabe. “We would obviously prefer him not to be there, but it isn’t the end of the world if he is,” one diplomat said.

Tsvangirai’s immediate concern is how to approach the SADC summit due to take place in Johannesburg this weekend. A deal had looked within reach when President Thabo Mbeki arrived in Harare last Saturday, after the three negotiating teams appeared to be at one on many key issues. But the first sign of trouble was when a conference room at the Rainbow Towers Hotel in Harare, decorated in preparation for the signing ceremony, remained empty well into the first night of talks. They continued for another three days with the parties drifting further apart. Mbeki asked for patience, telling reporters that he was committed to finding a solution: “If it means staying in Zimbabwe for six months, [I] will do it.” “I know the suffering the people of Zimbabwe have gone through, the violence of the past few months. Zimbabweans want to lead a better life, to recover from the problems they face,” he said. Leaving Tuesday’s encounter, a visibly angry Tsvangirai told reporters who asked him about the status of the talks to “go ask Mbeki”. Earlier, Mugabe said he had “wanted to raise my fist” at one point in the negotiations. ZANU PF has tried to sideline Tsvangirai, painting him as the spoiler, and the leader of the rival MDC faction Arthur Mutambara as the more rational partner.

Zimbabwe’s state media claimed Mutambara had signed a deal with Mugabe, but Mutambara denied this, saying a deal could only be signed if all three agreed on all the issues in dispute. But, he charged Tsvangirai had shifted position on several occasions. “Three times he agreed to this one aspect and three times he changed his mind,” said Mutambara. Tsvangirai’s hardened position became apparent on Tuesday when he angrily walked out of the talks after refusing to move on his central demand - that any power-sharing be based on the March 29 election, in which he won 47% of the vote to Mugabe’s 43%; that parliament rather than Mugabe should elect a new head of government; and that he would not accept the post of prime minister without the authority to hire and fire cabinet ministers. Documents leaked to the Mail & Guardian show the three leaders had agreed on 13 issues before Tuesday’s deadlock. On Wednesday, Tsvangirai declared that any “resolution that represents anything other than the will of the Zimbabwean people would be a disaster for our country”. Botswana continued to insist this week that it will not attend the SADC summit if Mugabe attends. Mugabe has been invited as Zimbabwe’s head of state. Foreign Affairs Minister Nkosazama Dlamini-Zuma said this week that President Ian Khama’s decision was sad, but that the issue was “not within South Africa’s control”. “All of us should guard the unity and cohesion of the SADC jealously,” she said.

(Source)

There is a ghost at the table around which the four principal negotiators have been sitting these last three days, trying to resolve Zimbabwe’s political crisis. The talks are haunted by the spirit of the late Joshua Nkomo, whose fate stands as a warning to anyone trying to strike a deal with President Robert Mugabe. Joshua Nkomo was, broadly, Mr Mugabe’s contemporary, and a Zimbabwean liberation leader of impeccable credentials. In 1980, at independence, he emerged as an alternative leader to Mr Mugabe. His support base was in Matabeleland in the south and west of the country. Mr Mugabe fought him for five years.

He destroyed him in two ways. First he sent into Matabeleland the ruthless, North Korea-trained Fifth brigade. Thousands of Mr Nkomo’s supporters were murdered and their bodies dumped in mass graves in a two-year operation known as Gukurahundi. Then - and this was a master stroke - Mr Mugabe reached an agreement with Mr Nkomo: a power-sharing agreement. Mr Nkomo was brought into the government as vice-president. Officially, the two political parties merged to form ZANU PF, but in reality Mr Mugabe’s party swallowed Mr Nkomo’s ZAPU party whole. Mr Nkomo was neutralised, destroyed. Mr Mugabe used what, on the face of it, was sold to the world as a power-sharing agreement to consolidate his own one-party state. It entrenched his dictatorship for 20 years. If Mr Nkomo - who died in 1999 - could speak from the grave, would he warn the opposition Movement of Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai not to walk into the same trap?

Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai have agreed on the need to share power. Mr Mugabe stays as president, Mr Tsvangirai becomes prime minister. But they are deadlocked on how much and what kind of power Mr Mugabe should retain. Mr Mugabe has in mind what you might call the Nkomo solution: he retains control of the military and security services that he has used so successfully to terrorise his way to successive election victories. In other words he retains the coercive instruments of real executive power. Mr Tsvangirai gets the economy to sort out. Mr Tsvangirai is not weak enough to have to accept this poisoned chalice. For one thing the European Union and the United States have both made it clear that they would not help fund a recovery package under a deal like this. Mr Mugabe makes hay with this, accusing his rival of being the candidate of Western interests, of resurgent British imperialism.

This plays well in much of Africa, but it no longer plays well in Zimbabwe, where there is now real economic privation. On the contrary, the evidence is that there is immense pressure on the MDC from below, from the millions of ordinary Zimbabweans who have risked much and endured more. If they are afraid of anything now it is that Mr Tsvangirai will be tempted to settle. Many would see such a deal as an unforgivable betrayal. At the negotiating table it has been three against one - with Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Arthur Mutambara, who leads a minority faction of the opposition, joining forces with Mr Mugabe to put pressure on Mr Tsvangirai to accept the Zanu PF power-sharing plan. Brave as he is, constancy is not one of Mr Tsvangirai’s virtues. The talks have hung on whether he would bend to this pressure. There is much dark talk in MDC circles of intolerable bullying. But Mr Tsvangirai has not caved. He has shown more backbone than the other three had hoped.

What he wants is the transfer of real executive power from the president’s office to that of the prime minister. Mr Mugabe would stay on as head of state in a largely ceremonial role. The odds are stacked against that. The hardliners who run the military and security services are implacably against it. Mr Mugabe is negotiating for them as well as for his party. But Mr Tsvangirai has two strong cards: the first is that he holds the key to an internationally funded recovery programme, which cannot happen without him; and time is on his side. In South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has less than a year left in office. His likely successor, Jacob Zuma, has been much more critical of Mr Mugabe, and his party, the African National Congress, has openly accused Mr Mugabe of bringing the liberation tradition into disrepute. It is in Mr Mugabe’s interests to strike a deal before Mr Zuma takes over. The parallels are not exact - this is not 1987. Joshua Nkomo did not, then, hold the cards that Morgan Tsvangirai holds now. Robert Mugabe is finding that it is no longer so easy to swallow the opposition whole and go on governing, unchallenged.

(Source)

It was nice to see Zimbabwe get a bit of positive media coverage for a change these past few days. Kirsty Coventry won a silver medal as well as broke a world record in the 100m backstroke at the Olympics in China. Amanda thinks the Olympics are just too overrated. Had she seen the illustriously extravagant opening ceremony, the term overrated would be an understatement. Unfortunately she doesn’t watch TV. In fact, she doesn’t want to own one, but that’s another story.

Its horrendous human rights record aside, all eyes are currently on China and for a while, people are just so sick and tired of politics they want to concentrate on the games for a change. Latest squabbles between Russia and Georgia have also partially displaced Zimbabwe from the limelight of the media’s watchful glare.

However, the media have kept half an eye on the secret talks which have apparently once more sort of ended in deadlock. Prior to Mbeki’s recent visit to Harare over the weekend, the media reported that he was carrying the proposal that Mugabe be granted amnesty and would become ceremonial president while Tsvangirai becomes executive president.

This morning, South Africa’s ETV showed footage of a clearly unamused Tsvangirai storming out of the talks last night. Mbeki denies there is a deadlock but rather some sort of break to give Tsvangirai a chance to dwell over a certain proposition that Mutambara and Mugabe already find agreeable. I thought if these people were understanding each other, Tsvangirai would not storm out looking like that. And as for Mutambara, there’s one guy most of us really couldn’t care less about, I mean, who is he reallyin all of this? He is proving more and more to be a yes-man whose behavior smacks of someone who simply wants in for some piece of the action.

The ever-optimistic Herald newspaper today carried on its front page a misleading bold headline that shouted: DEAL SEALED. Anxious and information hungry Zimbabweans probably rushed to buy this paper hoping for some workable conclusion to this impasse, only to be disappointed for the umpteenth time since the talks started. The so-called deal is an agreement between Mugabe and Mutambara paving way for Mugabe to form the next government. Well, they can agree all they want but Mutambara won no election and therefore his opinion doesn’t count.

Surely we are getting exhausted with these talks that will not end. With the imposed media blackout, there is no way the rest of us can find out what it is exactly that these guys are failing to agree on. But we can however, make intelligent guesses.

Knowing Uncle Bob as well as we all do, there is no way he would agree to becoming ceremonial president, he may be getting old but not foolish. We also know that the JOC would not be too excited at the prospect of serving under Tsvangirai, and would also like to save their butts for their own personal crimes. In this light, one can safely assume that Mbeki’s said proposal was thrown in the bin and fresh proposals that have Tsvangirai as another vice-president or some shitty arrangement like that were tabled and that is why he stormed out. I’m sure a lot of Zimbabweans would rather he ship out than agree to play second fiddle and as Tendai Biti said, ngavatonge tione (let’s watch and let them rule).

(Source)