Zanu PF concedes finance ministry as Cabinet hopes rise

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By Ntungamili Nkomo
Posted to the web: 02/10/2008 23:07:28
NEGOTIATORS for Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) factions held lengthy consultations by telephone on Thursday in an effort to break a deadlock over the composition of a cabinet for the inclusive government the parties agreed to last month, the Voice of America's Studio 7 reported last night.

Quoting a "well-informed source in President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF", the radio said the party had moved toward a resolution of the apparent stalemate by ceding the Ministry of Finance to the MDC formation of Morgan Tsvangirai, designated as Prime Minister.

Mugabe met top Zanu PF officials earlier Thursday, among them party strategist Emmerson Mnangagwa, otherwise Rural Housing Minister, and Patrick Chinamasa, currently Minister of Justice, and agreed to concede the Finance portfolio.

There was no immediate clarity on the disposition of other major portfolios, such as Home Affairs, Foreign Affairs and Agriculture which are all said to have been contested by Mugabe and Tsvangirai.

Spokesman Nelson Chamisa of the Tsvangirai MDC said he had no information regarding the concession by Zanu PF on the critical finance post.

Analysts say the ministry must end up in MDC hands or international donors will be reluctant to pour into the economy the billions of dollars required to launch an economic reconstruction.

Chamisa confirmed, however, that a meeting of the Tsvangirai MDC national executive set for Thursday had been postponed. Sources said the meeting had been called to decide whether the party should pull out of the power-sharing process over the impasse.

The state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted Chinamasa, Zanu PF's chief negotiator, as saying offices in the Monomotapa government building were ready for Tsvangirai. - VOA
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