Tsvangirai running out of options

• Zanu PF asks Mugabe to form new government

• SADC leans heavily on Tsvangirai to share Home Affairs

• Mugabe vows to form new government

• Document: SADC communique on Zimbabwe, DRC

• SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse

• Ncube gets newspaper apology

• South Africa tells Zimbabwe leaders 'enough is enough'

• Ncube interview: the truth about alleged 'doctoring' of power sharing document

• Ncube slams 'malicious' report over changes to power share document

• Tsvangirai drops passport demand ahead of summit

• SADC leaders recommend Home Affairs rotation

• Document: SADC communique on Zimbabwe deadlock

• SADC leaders fail to break Zimbabwe impasse

• Arrests as protesters demand Zim cabinet

• Mbeki 'very optimistic' of Zimbabwe deal

• SADC leaders in Harare, seek end to cabinet impasse

• Motlanthe tells Tsvangirai to end boycott

• Tsvangirai performs U-turn on SADC summit

• Janah Ncube: patience with Mugabe, Tsvangirai wearing thin

• War veterans threaten action against Tsvangirai

• Zuma slams 'weird' move to deny Tsvangirai passport

• Solved: how Zimbabwe parties can fairly share ministries

• SADC summit postponed, moved to Harare

• Tsvangirai snubs King's offer to fly him to summit

By Jason Moyo
Posted to the web: 14/11/2008 07:47:22
ROBERT Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai were rallying their troops this week for a new phase of confrontation, following the apparent collapse of the September power-sharing agreement.

Both men held meetings with their top executives and were planning new strategies after a regional attempt to save the September agreement failed in South Africa at the weekend.

The key point of contention is the home affairs ministry, which both parties are desperate to have in their hands.

Mugabe was taking concrete steps towards forming a new government, while the MDC, having suffered a major setback at Sunday's SADC summit, was holding a meeting of its national council, which was expected to announce a full withdrawal from the agreement.

Hardliners were pushing for a new strategy, including a campaign of "civil disobedience".

It would be "the most difficult decision for the MDC since we were formed", said Eddie Cross, a Tsvangirai adviser and a member of the MDC's top council, ahead of the meeting on Friday.

Mugabe looked ready this week to form a new government: a caucus of his MPs met to discuss the SADC resolution, while a meeting of the politburo, the core committee of Zanu-PF, also met to discuss a timetable for the appointment of a new government.

The power-sharing deal, signed two months ago and widely celebrated, unravelled after the SADC summit asked to rule on the deadlock called for Zimbabwe's two main parties to share control of the home affairs ministry, which oversees the police and the way elections are run, having overall charge of the voters' roll.

SADC leaders, who had grown impatient with a stand-off that has dragged on all year, pressed for the immediate formation of a joint government.

"We cannot afford to postpone the formation of an inclusive government because there is a dispute over who gets the ministry of home affairs," said Tomaz Salomão, SADC executive secretary.

Tsvangirai has rejected the SADC ruling, angrily calling regional leaders cowardly. According to Tsvangirai, Mugabe refused to leave the conference room when heads of state asked all three Zimbabwean protagonists to leave.

"Mugabe refused and the chairman of SADC [SA president Kgalema Motlanthe] did not tell him to leave. Thus, Mr Mugabe became a judge in his own case," Tsvangirai said.

That setback has narrowed Tsvangirai's options significantly, say political commentators.

After the March 29 elections in which Tsvangirai led, but without the majority to win outright, said political analyst Alex Magaisa, “the MDC had at least two viable options: either to lead a popular revolt in order to assert their position and prevent Zanu PF from holding on to power or to negotiate with Zanu PF in order to share power.”

He added: “Of these two, only one – the popular revolt -- was likely to deliver total change if it was successful. The other, and let it be very clear – negotiation – was never going to deliver total change. It was always going to be a compromise. It was never going to produce a revolutionary outcome.

“The point, therefore, is the need for a sober assessment of what is a realistic outcome as opposed to the ideal one because the latter was never and will never be achieved through negotiation.”

MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said his party was now looking to take the dispute to the African Union and to the United Nations. At Friday's meeting Tsvangirai will be expected to provide details ofhow he intends to do this.

The SADC resolution was reached by consensus, with no dissent even from Mugabe critics such as Zambia and Botswana. Tsvangirai’s advisers concede this makes it hard for their party to convince the AU to take a different view, given the SADC's clout on the continent.

The MDC leader's rejection of the SADC ruling, and his strong reaction to it, could isolate him further among African leaders, many of his supporters fear.

"The MDC has few options, if any. It has no choice but to participate under protest, in the larger interest of the nation," said Eldred Masungure, a political scientist at the University of Zimbabwe.

Tsvangirai has resisted pressure to pursue the option of a campaign of protest against Mugabe.

This week Zimbabwean police crushed a protest march called by the National Constitutional Assembly pressure group, signalling that there would be no change in Mugabe's repressive response to dissent. There is fear that Mugabe is planning a violent crackdown on opponents if the MDC formally withdraws.

It appears almost certain Mugabe will appoint a government without the MDC. On Tuesday, Parliament adjourned for another month. This means constitutional changes needed to enable the formation of a power-sharing government cannot be tabled before December 16 when Parliament next sits. It is unlikely Mugabe will wait until then to form a government, said Zanu-PF officials. - Mail & Guardian
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