Crucial MDC indaba begins in Johannesburg

By Tichaona Sibanda
7 January 2009

Will they or won’t they? Only the top leadership of the MDC who are meeting in Johannesburg have the answer to this four month-long guessing game that has kept Zimbabweans on tenterhooks, since talks to form a new government stalled last year.

All eyes are now fixed on the ‘no holds barred’ meeting between Morgan Tsvangirai and his top strategists and transition team, which is going on in South Africa to decide whether the MDC should join a unity government with arch-enemy Robert Mugabe.

A source told us the indaba would also discuss the humanitarian crisis and human rights situation in the country, before taking a final decision.

The meeting would try to hammer out a consensus on the strategy to be adopted, if they were to join an inclusive government. They are expected to draft a second strategy if they decide against joining. It’s believed that whatever is decided would have to be approved by the MDC’s national council - the party’s top decision making body.

Another source said the three day meeting has to take tough decisions on how far it could go in its opposition to joining the government, amid growing apprehension among party activists of Mugabe’s threats to call for an early election. Mugabe uses the military to run his election campaigns and there are fears that another election with Mugabe still controlling this apparatus will be just as bloody as the last election.

By joining a unity government, Tsvangirai as Prime Minister will be the deputy chair in a newly constituted National Security Council (NSC), taking over from the Joint Operations Command. Currently JOC comprises military commanders with strong links to Mugabe and ZANU PF. But the NSC would have more civilians from all parties. Some party leaders believe this would dilute the power Mugabe has wielded in the JOC.
‘The meeting will review the chain of events on the controversial agreement since 15th September with ZANU PF and is expected to chart out its strategy to deal with the situation. These talks are timely and important. Whatever decision is going to come out of this meeting has a huge bearing on the political landscape in Zimbabwe,’ our source said.

Meanwhile reports say Tsvangirai has urged South African President Kgalema Motlanthe to arrange and mediate a confidential meeting between himself and Mugabe, in an effort to solve the long-stalled power-sharing agreement signed in September 2008.
Tsvangirai has said he wanted renewed talks on the power-sharing deal but underscored that such talks should be under the chairmanship of Motlanthe, amid reports that SADC leaders are urging Tsvangirai to return to Harare for such a meeting.