MDC Mocks Mugabe's cabinet 'wish list'

By Vusumuzi Sifile, Caiphas Chimhete, Kholwani Nyathi and Davison Maruziva

THE MDC yesterday angrily dismissed as “Mugabe’s giant act of madness” President Robert Mugabe’s announcement of the allocation of government ministries to Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.

On Friday, Mugabe announced — through a government gazette — that he had allocated 30 ministries to the three parties.

He said one ministry — Finance, was still outstanding.

The announcement came few hours after Mugabe met MDC leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara to resolve the allocation of ministries.

The meeting ended in a deadlock and the three leaders agreed to refer the matter to the facilitator, former South African President, Thabo Mbeki, who is expected in Harare tomorrow.
Announcement of the allocation of government ministries yesterday drew fire from the MDC, which described it as a mere “wish list and giant act of madness”.

The MDC said it could not be useless “accessories” in a Zanu PF government.
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa described Mugabe’s move to allocate ministries as “arrogant, unilateral, contemptuous and outrageous”.

He said it was a betrayal of the spirit of the power-sharing deal signed in Harare on September 15 in the presence of the facilitator and regional leaders from Sadc.
Chamisa said the MDC would not be party to Mugabe’s “wish-list”.

“Zanu PF cannot nocturnally allocate ministries barely hours after the three principals agreed to disagree by referring the matter to the mediator after a logjam over all key ministries,” Chamisa said. “In fact, it is a giant act of madness, which puts the whole deal into jeopardy. We will not accept being accessories to a government that is principally Zanu PF.”

The MDC spokesperson said basing on Mugabe’s list, “it’s easy for Zanu PF to run the country on the basis of the ministries they have allocated themselves”.

“We did not append our signatures to a power-grabbing deal by Zanu PF,” Chamisa said. “It is a power-sharing deal, and let it be real power-sharing and responsibility sharing so that we are able to inspire confidence in Zimbabweans.”

The allocation of ministries, he said, was a clear strategy to try and pre-empt the arrival of the mediator, as well as the intervention of Sadc and the African Union.
He appealed to the international community to urgently intervene and “protect Zimbabweans against Mugabe’s machinations”.

The MDC said if the power-sharing deal collapsed, they would need fresh elections that are internationally supervised.

“We are now waiting for Sadc to come in and try to adjudicate the process,” he said. “If that fails, it’s back to square one. We have to have fresh elections that are internationally supervised so that we deal with this outstanding matter.”

In the absence of such an arrangement and the September 15 deal, Chamisa said, the MDC would withdraw its endorsement of Mugabe for the transitional inclusive government.
Tsvangirai will today address a rally at the Zimbabwe Grounds in Harare to spell out the party’s position.
MDC-M spokesperson Edwin Mu-shoriwa described the gazetting of ministries as “mischievous”.
“The process of the allocation of ministries has not been concluded and hence the decision by the principals to recall Mbeki. We dismiss what Mugabe has done with the contempt it deserves,” Mushoriwa told The Standard last night.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon called on the political leadership to put the country first and reach a workable agreement on the composition of the cabinet so as to begin the all important task of rebuilding the country.

Talks over the allocation of key ministries have reached a deadlock, invoking panic in the United Nations. There had been hopes that the political deal could end Zimbabwe’s devastating economic meltdown.

The deadlock comes as the UN has just announced that the food crisis in Zimbabwe has reached emergency proportions. The UN World Food Programme is appealing for financial donations of US$140 million to feed about five million hungry Zimbabweans for the next six months.
Reactions among Zimbabweans ranged from anger at a dream deferred to resignation at prospects of turning around the country’s decade-long decline.

University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer Eldred Masunungure said Mugabe’s action was designed to pre-empt Mbeki’s mediation effort.

“It’s a pre-emptive move to Mbeki to say this is what we want. Mugabe has taken the lion’s share and gave a mouse’ to MDC,” said Masunungure. “What Mugabe has done breeds ill-wish and it deepens distrust between the parties.”

He said Mugabe’s actions showed Zanu PF’s self-centredness, a development that does not in any way solve the crisis in the country.

Bulawayo-based political analyst Jethro Mpofu said, “The people of Zimbabwe are impatient for change. There is need for political leaders to demonstrate a sense of urgency in their deliberation because the economic and human crisis in the country is getting dire everyday.”

But Mpofu said all hope was not lost after Mugabe refrained from unilateral gazetting the Ministry of Finance as he did with those of home affairs and local government which are still being contested.

“In my view he has effectively given that ministry to the MDC and we must be hopeful that the impasse will be broken,” he said.

Others felt that Zanu PF was being insensitive by insisting on retaining control of all the important ministries contrary to the spirit of agreement, which caused for a fifty-fifty power sharing agreement.

“The MDC must not accept a junior role in government,” said Khanyele Ndlovu a security guard.

Published in The Standard, Oct. 12 2008