MDC thrown into confusion over convening of parliament

MDC thrown into confusion over convening of parliament

WHICH IS WHICH: Biti has contradicted his leader over the party's position on parliament's opening

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ZIMBABWE’S main opposition MDC on Wednesday put out a contradictory position over plans by President Robert Mugabe’s government to convene parliament early next week.

The MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said in a statement that if parliament was convened, it would be against a framework agreement governing the power-sharing talks which began nearly a month ago and which could end Zimbabwe's deep political crisis.

"Any decision to convene parliament will be a clear repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of Zanu PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks. In short convening parliament decapitates the dialogue," Biti's statement said.

But on Tuesday, his leader Morgan Tsvangirai told reporters in South Africa: “Let Parliament be reconvened. As far as we are concerned we don't see anything wrong with that. It will have no effect. Parliament is an expression of the will of the people, but Cabinet is another thing.”

The government said on Tuesday it planned to convene parliament and swear in MPs elected in March 29 polls early next week.

In March elections, Zanu PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, but Tsvangirai's MDC did not win an overall majority either.

The balance of power rests in the hands of a breakaway MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

He has maintained that voting with Tsvangirai on the legislative agenda is not a given, and any deal between Mugabe’s Zanu PF and him could weaken Tsvangirai and add to political uncertainty.

The Zimbabwe government was quick to point to the MDC’s sharp u-turn over the convening of parliament.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu PF's chief negotiator in the talks, said: "Yesterday, they said they had no problem with parliament opening, and today they have a problem? I have no comment on that."

Professor Welshman Ncube, the secretary general of Mutambara's MDC and also its chief negotiator at the talks said they had no objections to the convening of parliament -- as suggested by Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders at a summit in South Africa last weekend.

Ncube said: "SADC is saying, despite the MOU stipulation that Parliament cannot be re-convened before this process has come to an end, as far as they (SADC) are concerned, everything has been done to build an agreement. A time has therefore come to say you cannot continue to say there is a vacuum in government.

"It is their view that the government of the day should proceed to convene Parliament. They have therefore effectively amended the MOU by saying that after all that has been done thus far, a vacuum in the Zimbabwe government cannot be left to continue. They are therefore saying they cannot stop Zanu PF from convening Parliament if it’s inclined to do so."

Negotiations began last month after Mugabe was re-elected unopposed in June, in a vote condemned around the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters. - Staff Reporter/Reuters
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