Mugabe Refuses To Recognise Tsvangirai - Did You Notice That?

Mugabe appears on CNN last week. He was in New York to attend the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which he also addressed and predictably lamented sanctions imposed on him and his party. During the interview, however, Mugabe betrayed an aspect of the Inclusive Government that escaped all observers. As I explain below, put together with the behaviour of his spokesman, George Charamba and all the other breaches of the spirit behind the Inclusive Government, it shows us the true state of the health of the Inclusive Government

Harare, Zimbabwe, 03 September 2009

Almost everybody failed to notice a very significant aspect of Mugabe's interview with Amanpour on CNN last week.

Throughout the interview, not once did Mugabe refer to Morgan Tsvangirai as the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe, even though he sought to play up the Inclusive Government as "genuine power-sharing" which should not be "denigrated."

When he spoke about Roy Bennett, the Zimbabwe President said he has been told that the case against him was weak and pointed out that this information came from the "leader of the MDC".

All through the interview, Tsvangirai was either "leader of the MDC" or simply "Tsvangirai", not even "Mr Tsvangirai"!

This ties in very well with the interview that his spokesman last gave to the media in Zimbabwe, in which he repeatedly referred to the Prime Minister of Zimbabwe as simply "Tsvangirai" and said that this man, the Prime Minister of the country should "get it through his head" that there was not going to be any going back on the demand from ZANU PF for the "sanctions" to be lifted.

It is indications like this that tell you the real state of the Inclusive Government, even as the Prime Minister and his party continue to say it is irreversible and that they are determined to stick it out. Yet these are the indications that do not make news.

Gone now are the days such as the burials of Msika and Zvinavashe at Zimbabwe Heroes Acre in Harare, when Mugabe repeatedly referred to Tsvangirai as either "The Right Honourable Prime Minister", "Prime Minister" and "Honourable".

What should we read into this?

That Mugabe has now simply stopped trying. Or pretending.

It goes back to my observation last month that it now appears as though it is the MDC which is more desperate for the continuance of the Inclusive Government than ZANU PF.

While the MDC-T maintains that "it will take a bullet" to get them out of the Government of Zimbabwe, Mugabe has already made up his mind that they are unwelcome and he will make their stay as uncomfortable as possible.

Still, as Tsvangirai told the BBC, he has no other plan left. He has no other option on the table. "If Zimbabweans wanted Mugabe to go, they should have staged a revolution," he said. "They failed to do that, so we have to do this."

After the Inclusive Government, Tsvangirai says, there is only a big black hole, nothingness.

He fears to go there.