Tsvangirai will snub Mugabe appointment

NO DEAL: Tsvangirai to address reporters on Friday

• In letter, Mugabe appoints Tsvangirai Prime Minister

• Motlanthe expects Zim government this week

• Ending Zimbabwe's nightmare: A possible way forward

• Motlanthe wants Tsvangirai sworn-in 'immediately'

• MDC threatens to block Amendment 19

• Mugabe raps 'prostitute' Tsvangirai

• Alfi Nyoni: Why Tsvangirai must join government

• Africa shows little appetite for Zim sanctions, intervention

• SA tells Zim leaders to put lives before politics

• Mugabe tells supporters to be ready for new elections

• Post Editorial: Tsvangirai pushing his luck too far

• Zambian newspaper lashes Tsvangirai, warns of 'shifting tide of public opinion'

• Document: Tendai Biti's letter to Mbeki

• Negotiators strike agreement on Constitutional Amendment No. 19

• Talks threatened as Mbeki, Tsvangirai trade barbs

• Mbeki letter 'angers' Tsvangirai

• Zanu PF, MDC negotiators meet in SA

• Elders urge MDC to join unity government

• ANC team to press for Zimbabwe deal

• Motlanthe wants Zim rivals to be sworn-in

• Tsvangirai eyes new Zimbabwe government in 2 months

• South Africa withholds aid to Zimbabwe

• Text: statement by South Africa cabinet on Zimbabwe

• Zimbabwe negotiators set to meet over draft Bill

• Constitutional Amendment 19 draft sent to Mbeki

• Tsvangirai seeks EU support for inclusive government

• MDC (Tsvangirai) national council resolutions

• Tsvangirai's MDC to join unity government

• Tsvangirai running out of options - analysts

• 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

By Lebo Nkatazo
Posted to the web: 19/12/2008 00:47:11
OPPOSITION leader Morgan Tsvangirai will not accept President Robert Mugabe’s appointment as Prime Minister until violence against his supporters is stopped and abducted party activists are released, a spokesman said Thursday.

Speaking a day after New Zimbabwe.com revealed Mugabe had sent a letter of appointment to Tsvangirai, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nelson Chamisa said joining a unity government was “not a wedding party where someone is invited”.

“We want to form a transitional government, not as invitees however,” Chamisa said. “The idea of letters being written to us does not arise.”

Chamisa said he had not seen Mugabe’s letter to Tsvangirai, but hinted that the MDC leader, who remains holed up in neighbouring Botswana, would not join government as long as violence continued against his party’s members.

“I can tell you that the one communication that we have received from Zanu PF is that of abductions, intimidation and terror,” Chamisa said. “Certainly, that language is difficult to understand.”

The MDC says over a dozen of its supporters are currently held by Zimbabwe’s security forces without trial. Police, however, have said they are not holding any of the activists.

African pressure grew on Thursday for the September 15 power sharing agreement to be implemented, but with Tsvangirai still in Botswana and insisting he would not make the short trip across the border until he is issued a passport, the impasse looked set to continue.

In South Africa, the current chair of the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) trade bloc, ruling African National Congress leader Jacob Zuma said: “We are continuing to put pressure on our Zanu PF comrades and the MDC formations to agree on a unity government without further delay.”

Addressing a Zanu PF conference in Bindura, Mugabe said he would shortly be inviting Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a rival MDC faction, “to come and discuss the way forward”.

Typically, Mugabe then accused Tsvangirai of being used by western powers “in the foolish business of fighting your people”. He added: “But we are watchful. We are saying that cannot continue."

A constitutional amendment currently undergoing public scrutiny before it is brought to parliament for adoption in mid-January allows for Tsvangirai to be sworn-in as Prime Minister before it passes.

A senior government official close to the developments told New Zimbabwe.com Mugabe’s decision to appoint Tsvangirai was “designed to ensure every legal step is done”.

“Once you exhaust those steps, and the process is still being frustrated, then anything can happen,” said the official, adding that he didn’t expect Chamisa to have seen Tsvangirai’s letter as it was “private and confidential”. “It’s a letter of employment. Who wants his letter of employment read by everyone?”

The letter was left with Tsvangirai’s office in Zimbabwe, although it remains unclear if he has received it. A statement from Tsvangirai’s Johannesburg spokesman Nqobizitha Mlilo said the MDC leader would address reporters in Botswana sometime on Friday about the “deepening humanitarian crisis in Zimbabwe, as well as the gravely worsening security situation in the country.”

Apart from Tsvangirai's passport, the MDC insists there won't be a new government until agreement is reached on the allocation of "key" ministries, the appointment of provincial governors and ambassadors.
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