MDC leaders reject Mbeki’s claims of 2004 agreement with ZANU-PF

By Tererai Karimakwenda
06 February 2006

The Zimonline news site reports that leaders of both factions of the MDC have rejected South African president Thabo Mbeki’s claims that they signed an agreement on a draft new Constitution with Zanu-PF in 2004.
As we reported on Monday, Mbeki told SABC television that both Mugabe and the Movement for Democratic Change had agreed on a draft constitution and he had received a copy initialled by “everybody.” Mbeki said the process had stopped because new problems arose between the 2 sides. But according to Zimonline, MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai and secretary general Welshman Ncube both strongly denied an agreement was ever reached and said no document was ever submitted to Mbeki. Ncube is reported to have said: “We never gave Mbeki a draft Constitution -- unless it was Zanu-PF which did that.”

It is extremely difficult to report on the Zimbabwe crisis because government officials do not speak to us, and conflicting information in the press is often impossible to confirm or clarify. Katy Katopodis of South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 told us the press in South Africa has struggled for years trying to get information on Zimbabwe. She explained how a comment by an official can suddenly be denied by their colleagues or by the opposition and how it takes many phone calls and a lot of time to confirm stories. Katopodis gave the example of Mugabe’s visit to South Africa a few weeks ago. She said Mugabe had been spotted at 2 hospitals by their reporters, and they needed to verify whether he was sick or just visiting a relative. But some officials were denying Mugabe’s presence in the country and it took a very long time to confirm he had been visiting a sick relative.

As for coverage of Mbeki’s comments on Zimbabwe, Katopodis said the press in South Africa had not really picked up on it because president Mbeki addressed many other important issues, including speculation that he would seek a third term. Zimbabwean journalists have covered the comments by Mbeki quite extensively and followed up on the rejection of his claims by the MDC leaders. This is not the first time the MDC has rejected claims by South Africa’s president. In 2005, Mbeki said the ruling party was negotiating with the MDC. Both parties said they knew nothing about negotiations, formal or informal. The latest conflicting statements underline the difficulty of reporting on the Zimbabwe crisis. And as usual, the government has remained silent. And it remains a mystery whether or not Justice Minister Chinamasa sent a copy of a draft constitution to Thabo Mbeki.