MDC to press ahead with intervention despite ZANU PF objections

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 May 2009

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC will press ahead with referring all outstanding issues in the Global Political Agreement to SADC and the African Union for arbitration, despite ZANU PF’s objections.
Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party rejected the move by the MDC to refer their dispute to African leaders describing it as ‘premature’. Nicholas Goche, the ZANU PF negotiator in the dialogue that led to the GPA, told the Herald newspaper the discussions between the principals have not yet reached a stage where there was need for arbitration.

But the MDC has already sent out letters to SADC and the AU, officially requesting them to intervene. It is not known when these organisations will respond.

Goche, a ZANU PF MP and Minister of Transport in the inclusive government, said the fact that Tsvangirai indicated that 95 percent of issues had been resolved, meant the discussions were close to conclusion.
He is also quoted telling the Herald that the principals have not yet declared a deadlock and this meant some progress had been made during their meetings.

On Tuesday a highly placed MDC source said the three principals to the GPA in met again in Harare and agreed on all issues except two - believed to be that of Gideon Gono and Johannes Tomana, the central bank governor and attorney general.

The source told us the principals have also tasked Arthur Mutambara to make an announcement on the progress. ‘Mutambara has been tasked to make that announcement. He will also give details of areas where there is a deadlock. Where there is deadlock, the principals are believed to have agreed to seek SADC’s help for arbitration’. The source also said this announcement would be made Thursday. But no one is holding their breath as many deadlines and promises of announcements have come and gone in the past, with nothing happening.

Simon Muchemwa, our Harare correspondent, said the decision by the MDC to seek SADC’s help might have triggered concern in ZANU PF circles as evidenced by this recent flurry of activity in the party.
‘ZANU PF is now on overdrive berating the MDC for turning to SADC and the AU. Don’t forget the announcement on Sunday by Tsvangirai to seek regional help came a few days after he said they had made progress in the talks,’ Muchemwa said.

‘The fact that Jacob Zuma, who is seen more aligned to Tsvangirai than Mugabe, has been asked to lead SADC efforts to find a solution, looks to have jolted ZANU PF into action. Its machinery, the state media, has come out guns blazing, castigating the MDC for referring an issue still under discussion,’ Muchemwa added.