Denford Magora's Latest Zimbabwe News Blog

Morgan Tsvangirai adresses party supportersin Harare on Sunday during an MDC-T 10th Anniversary rally. Tsvangirai publicly gave Mugabe until 30 November to resolve all outstanding issues but the deadline has now passed with the Prime Minister quiet as a mouse. The talks themselves are in disarray, as the two parties keep piling on new issues that were never mentioned in the GPA or the SADC Communique of January this year. These talks will go on for another six months! Harare, Zimbabwe, 01 December 2009 The talks in Zimbabwe amongst the three parties to the country's Inclusive Government have degenerated into so much disarray that a South African mediation team yesterday threw its hands into the air in frustration. The talks, which were supposed to focus only on the Global Political Agreement (GPA) signed by the parties on September 2008 and a subsequent Southern African Development Community (SADC) Communique, now encompass issues outside of these documents. The ill-disciplined app...

The talks to brea the impasse in Zimbabwe's coalition are bogged down, with ZANU PF resorting to legalistic arguments to get out of their obligations. This is despite the SADC Troika meeting stating that the talks must be held in order to meet not just the letter, but also "the spirit" behind the agreement that governs the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe. Harare, Zimbabwe 25 November 2009 Negotiators from ZANU PF and the two MDC formations are struggling to find common ground, it has emerged, with indications being that the talks to resolve the impasse that led to Morgan Tsvangirai "disengaging from ZANU PF" are stuck on who has responsibility for which outstanding issues. The Inclusive Government of Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe had been given the deadline of 15 November to start talking and another deadline of November 30 to finish the talks. Jacob Zuma, the South African President had been scheduled to come to Zimbabwe to be updated on progress this w...

Morgan Tsvangirai at the airport on Thursday as he left for Libya to meet with Muamar Gaddafi, a Mugabe ally. None of the issues that led to his short-lived "disengagement" from ZANU PF and Cabinet have even been talked about. Now ZANU PF says there is nothing anyone can do to them if they drag their feet and do not stick to the SADC timeline of 30 days to resolve the outstanding issues Harare, Zimbabwe, 22 November 2009 After failing to meet the deadline of 15 days within which talks must start to resolve the impasse in Zimbabwe's Inclusive Government, ZANU PF, Mugabe's party, now says that the deadline is not really a deadline and that the regional body of leaders is not a "headmaster". They also effectively said there is nothing SADC (Southern African Development Community) can do to them because Zimbabwean leaders are "children in school". The comments come from one of Mugabe's senior ministers and a negotiator in the talks that led to the ...

When the SADC Troika Heads of State meeting in Mozambique broke for lunch, Mugabe walked off with the other presidents (seen here during the lunch break with Jacob Zuma opf South Africa and Armando Guebuza of Mozambique (and Troika Chairman). Tsvangirai, as is shown in the article below this one, had to go off by himself. Mugabe's hand is basically strengthened by the SADC Troika position as I explain below Harare, Zimbabwe, 7 November 2009 So. Patrick Chinamasa, one of Mugabe's biggest lapdogs and errand boys, was waxing lyrical yesterday upon his return from the SADC Troika Summit in Mozambique and says ZANU PF is happy indeed about the outcome of the Summit. So is Mugabe, who is now in Sharm el Sheik for the China-Africa Summit. They are very happy in ZANU PF because they now have Morgan Tsvangirai all to themselves. SADC leaders will not even mediate the talks that must now go on between the two main parties. They simply say the two must talk. Apart from sanctions, Tsvangir...