Motlanthe says Zim rivals 'luckadaisical' in ending crisis

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Posted to the web: 09/01/2009 14:34:11
ZIMBABWE'S feuding parties have had a "lackadaisical" attitude toward ending a months-long stalemate, despite a worsening humanitarian crisis, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe said Friday.

"The sooner an inclusive government is formed, the sooner there can be concerted efforts by all parties to deal with a massive humanitarian crisis," Motlanthe said in an interview with The Mail and Guardian newspaper.

"But the fact is that the parties there have sometimes had a lackadaisical attitude to these matters," he said.

Motlanthe urged the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to settle its outstanding issues with President Robert Mugabe after creating a unity government.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe signed a unity pact nearly four months ago, but the deal has stalled over disputes on how to share power in a new cabinet.

The MDC won control of parliament in elections last March, when Tsvangirai also defeated Mugabe in a first-round presidential vote.

But he pulled out of a runoff in June, accusing Mugabe's party of coordinating attacks against his supporters, which Amnesty International says have left more than 180 dead.

The unity accord was meant to haul the country from political limbo and halt its economic meltdown.

Instead the country's crisis has only worsened, with a cholera epidemic killing more than 1,800 people across the country and chronic food shortages worsening. - AFP
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