Mutambara now an obstacle in ratifying SADC resolutions

By Tichaona Sibanda
22 July 2011

There are allegations that Arthur Mutambara’s refusal to step down and allow MDC-N President Welshman Ncube to take over as a principal is a ‘CIO project’ intended to collapse the inclusive government.

Mutambara is a Deputy Prime Minister in the inclusive government. He lost the MDC-N leadership to his former secretary-general during the party’s congress in January, but has refused to relinquish his post as the Deputy Premier and principal, arguing that the congress, which ushered Ncube into power, was illegal.

In January his supporters filed a High Court application challenging the ascendancy of Ncube as President. The fight between the two former political colleagues is now alleged to be a stumbling block in ratifying certain issues endorsed by SADC.

Moses Mzila-Ndlovu, MDC-N negotiator to the Global Political Agreement (GPA), told SW Radio Africa on Friday that Mutambara’s stubbornness was now derailing progress in the unity government.

‘Let’s take for instance the recommendation by SADC heads of state, which was also endorsed, that called on the Troika to immediately name a three-person team to work with the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee (JOMIC).

‘That hasn’t been done because the Principals, who should be Robert Mugabe, Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube, have yet to convene a meeting where they should ratify the resolution adopted in Sandton, South Africa,’ Mzila-Ndlovu said.

The SADC Troika on Politics, Defence and Security resolved at the Livingstone summit in Zambia at the end of March to recognise Ncube as the head of the MDC party and to accept Mutambara just as the country’s Deputy Premier. But Mugabe has refused to recognise Ncube as a principal, fuelling speculation within the MDC-N that he’s using it as a delaying mechanism.

‘The Principals should sit down and ratify the co-option of this Troika team but this has since not happened. The reason being that the principals’ meeting, which is clearly wrongly constituted, does take place on Mondays without Ncube. Instead he’s represented without the consent of our party by a man called Arthur Mutambara, who has since been expelled from the party.

‘Mugabe and Tsvangirai continue to host Mutambara against the provisions of the GPA. We brought up this issue with the facilitation team on Wednesday but their hands are tied because they are also waiting for the outcome of the court case. Even the mediator (Jacob Zuma) is well aware of this predicament,’ Mzila-Ndlovu said.
President Zuma’s facilitation team jetted into Harare on Wednesday to check on the progress made by party negotiators towards crafting a roadmap for free and fair elections. The team has since then held marathon meetings with key stakeholders in the Zimbabwe crisis.
Mzila-Ndlovu, who is also the co-Minister for National Healing, said the facilitation team informed them that Zambia and Mozambique had already identified representatives who will be co-opted into JOMIC, while South Africa should have theirs soon.

He said during a recent meeting of party negotiators, at which they were able to work on timeframes for the roadmap, it was categorically stated the principals referred to the Presidents of the three parties, and not individuals like Mutambara.

‘This is an issue that needs to be quickly resolved, that Ncube takes his rightful place in the meetings of principals so that the rightful people can then deal with the issue of the co-option of these people from SADC.

‘It is not possible for them to be co-opted without the consent of the MDC-N and I hope it will soon dawn on Mutambara and his ZANU PF sponsors that he’s holding the country to ransom,’ Mzila-Ndlovu said.