Zimbabwe's Coalition - It's All Over: Tsvangirai "Undiplomatic" says ZANU PF

Morgan Tsvangirai, seen here yesterday with Congressman Meeks of the United States posing under Mugabe's photograph in Tsvangirai's office at Munhumutapa Building in Harare, is under attack today from ZANU PF, who accuse him of being "undiplomatic". ZANU PF says it rejects the Prime Minister's call on Tuesday for Zimbabwe to be put on the agenda at the forthcoming SADC Summit in the DRC. It would be a stalemate if Tsvangirai had another plan apart from staying on in government and taking the abuse heaped on him.




Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 Sepember 2009

Well, it was good while it lasted.

Yes, as far as the coalition government in Harare is concerned, it is all over bar the shouting.

And shouting is what the two major parties are now doing, with ZANU PF telling state media today that Morgan Tsvangirai "is undiplomatic" and has caused "untold suffering to the people of Zimbabwe" through the sanctions "he called for".

Again, today, a senior ZANU PF source is in the news, telling the United Nations news agency IRIN:

"We have certainly worn down the MDC. We can't negotiate ourselves out of power." He also boasted to IRIN that ZANU PF has more experience in negotiating and has, as a result, run rings around the MDC and Morgan Tsvangirai.

The UN news agency also spoke to the MDC and their man could only say that Mugabe had given concessions to Jacob Zuma and that "certain provisions of the coalition deal would have been implemented by the time the SADC Summit is held. Very soon there will be some developments."

Which is nonsense, of course.

If this was the case, there would have been no need for Morgan Tsvangirai to hold the press conference he held two days ago at Harvest House, begging SADC to put Zimbabwe on the agenda and chronicling the outstanding issues that his party is bitter about, from the refusal by Mugabe to swear in Roy Bennett, the Minister of Agriculture designate, the MDC governors and resident ministers as well as the issues of the Reserve Bank Governor and Attorney General.

The truth of the matter is that Tsvangirai is now a passenger in this GPA and is now in the undignified position of appearing as if he is desperate for the meaningless title of Prime Minister.

Within his own office, Tsvangirai's people are also increasingly disillusioned. One of his staff members in the Prime Ministerial office at Munhumutapa Building, the presidential office complex in Harare, has said that the MDC leader "is mellowing" and giving in too much.

But more important and to the point, ZANU PF today has come out again with guns blazing, seeking to put the MDC leader on the back foot yet again.

So far, it is the MDC that has been lamenting the lack of progress in implementing the issues that it considers outstanding, but now ZANU PF, ahead of the SADC Summit next week in the DRC, is seeking to play up its own grievances.

This shows without a doubt that there will be no implementation of the outstanding issues at all as claimed by the MDC source to the United Nations news agency.

Nathan Shamuyarira, who, when not spouting ZANU PF propaganda, is busy burning down the farmhouses of white Zimbabwean farmers through his sidekick "Landmine" who is stationed at Mount Carmel Farm in Chegutu, told state media:

"Morgan Tsvangirai is undiplomatic"

Shamuyarira told ZBC that ZANU PF rejects the call by Morgan Tsvangirai to put Zimbabwe on the agenda of the forthcoming SADC Summit.

Shamuyarira signalled a hardening of the ZANU stance by reviving the issue of land, saying Tsvangirai is saying nothing about the land issue because he is working with the western world and "Rhodesians" to find ways to hand land back to whites.

Again, he accused the MDC-T of "calling for sanctions and causing untold suffering on the people of Zimbabwe."

It would be a stalemate if Tsvangirai had any fight left in him, because the statement clearly shows that Mugabe is sticking to what he told Zuma: no more concessions to the MDC until they get sanctions lifted.

It is crucial to understand however, that Morgan Tsvangirai is not going anywhere. He sees his Prime Ministerial post as the pinnacle of MDC achievement. He is tired of the fight and simply does not have any fight left in him.

Hence his continued insistence that the coalition is not in any danger and that he remains committed to it, as he repeated to Jacob Zuma last week.

He will limp along, until ZANU PF decides that they will now up the ante and force him out, ejecting him from government, essentially.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Who Killed Elliot Manyika?

Another Tsvangirai Family Accidental Death

Zimbabwe: Petition To Free A Two Year Old Toddler From Prison