Ncube gets newspaper apology

SORRY: Newspaper's apology to Ncube

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Posted to the web: 07/11/2008 13:36:41
A NEWSPAPER has apologised to MDC-Mutambara secretary general Welshman Ncube after accepting that “he had nothing do with the doctoring” of a power sharing agreement document signed between Zimbabwe’s three main parties on September 15.

The Zimbabwean newspaper which is published in England and circulated in Zimbabwe and South Africa says in its November 7 issue that Zanu PF’s chief negotiator and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa “has admitted to tampering” and deleting two paragraphs “which alter the document substantially”.

The newspaper first published claims that Ncube, Chinamasa and Mujanku Gumbi, an aide to former South African President Thabo Mbeki, were responsible for “making changes to the document” without the knowledge of Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of a rival MDC faction.

Quoting unnamed sources, the newspaper accused the three men of “panel-beating and re-typing the agreement” that was signed on September 15 by President Robert Mugabe and MDC rivals Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara.

Ncube has since refuted the allegations which were repeated by a London-based radio station, pointing out that Chinamasa had “freely admitted” to accidentally deleting two paragraphs from the document during typing, and deliberately changing a clause based on advice from Mugabe.

The newspaper said in a front page lead story: “In an earlier report, The Zimbabwean stated that they (documents) had been doctored behind Tsvangirai’s back by Zanu PF’s Patrick Chinamasa, MDC-M’s secretary-general, Welshman Ncube and one of Thabo Mbeki’s representatives.

“We now understand Ncube had nothing to do with the doctoring and we apologise to him unreservedly.”

It has since emerged that the September 15 agreement signed by the parties is NOT the operative document, and any changes to it have no bearing to the constitutive document signed in private between the leaders on September 11.

Ncube said: “The document which was signed by the parties at the formal ceremony on the 15th of September was just a formal document which is not constitutive… it was simply a formal public ceremony to give effect to something which had already been agreed previously.

“The document which was signed at the formal ceremony on September 15 has three alterations or three omissions – if I may call them that. As far as we know,, we have raised this with Zanu PF and (Patrick) Chinamasa whose Ministry of Justice was responsible for producing the final document which was to be signed by the principals.

“Minister Chinamasa has freely admitted that he made one of those alterations.

"There are two other paragraphs which are missing from the final document signed on the 15th. Chinamasa – when we have asked him – he says he doesn’t know what happened to them, he did not remove them, they must have dropped out of the electronic copy accidentally. And there is no dispute that they should be there, everyone accepts that they should be there. No-one knows how they were dropped off the agreement.

“The South Africans were not involved. We were not involved. I was not involved.”

Ncube said after the signing of a draft power sharing agreement at the conclusion of talks on September 11, the agreement had been handed over to Chinamasa to oversee the production and printing of the final legal document.

The first clause that was altered by Chinamasa, he said, related to Senate seats. Ncube said Zanu PF already had five non-constituency seats. So it had been agreed that an additional six senators would be appointed.

Out of the six, four would be from the Tsvangirai-led MDC and two from the Mutambara-led MDC. However, Ncube said, that paragraph was completely changed and Chinamasa inserted a clause saying there would be nine new senate seats, to be shared equally between the three rival parties.

Ncube said he had been told by Chinamasa that he inserted that particular clause on the directions of Mugabe, who said both Tsvangirai and Mutambara agreed to the change. Mutambara has denied such an agreement, Ncube said.
One paragraph, present in the September 11 agreement, was completely removed from the September 15 document, and Chinamasa has said it was “deleted by accident”.

The missing paragraph says anyone appointed to the position of Deputy Prime Minister and Vice President would automatically be a Member of Parliament. If that person is already an MP, his/her party will appoint a non-constituency MP.

Another missing paragraph states that the Prime Minister and his Deputy Prime Ministers and the President and his Vice Presidents shall sit together and make appointments of senior government employees like Ambassadors and Permanent Secretaries. Chinamasa has also put that omission down to an error, Ncube said.
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