THE ruling Zanu PF party’s Politburo met on Wednesday this week and resolved that the position of President was non-negotiable as the run-off election held on June 27 had produced a clear winner.
Quoting unnamed party insiders, The Herald newspaper said the Zanu PF top decision making body, the Politburo decided that the outcome of the June 27 ballot although boycotted by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, had to be respected.
“(The) Politburo ... resolved that the June 27 presidential election run-off outcome — which is underpinned by requirements of Zimbabwe’s law that if there is no winner with the required majority in the first round of a presidential election, there shall be a run-off — was also non-negotiable,” reported The Herald.
The paper added that “… there has to be a figure who appoints the all-inclusive government envisaged in the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the three parties on Monday. And that figure is President Mugabe who won the run-off.”
Two other issues were said to be non-negotiable. One of those issues pertained to the land policy. According to Zanu PF “there would not be any compromise (on) the land issue and the irreversibility of the land reform programme” was unthinkable, adding that the opposition “must accept this as a non-negotiable area.”
“Another issue the Politburo classified as non-negotiable was Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and non-interference in the affairs of Zimbabwe because "it was so central to our nation being,” reported the state daily.
President Mugabe is reported to be very passionate about retaining Zimbabwe’s sovereignty and the right to self-determination.
At the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding between Zanu PF and the MDC, President Mugabe said: “We must act as Zimbabweans, think as Zimbabweans, be masters of our own destiny,” saying that there was “No need for us to call on Europe to sanction us.”
He also said, “We should negotiate as true, friendly, brotherly Zimbabweans. No Masters from Europe, from America and we should take no dictation from them.”
CHALLENGES TO THE NEGOTIATIONS
The Herald also reported that practical challenges to the talks revolved around how to accommodate leaders of the Mutambara MDC formation who had all lost in by-elections at the March 29 harmonised elections.
For the leaders of the MDC formation to be included in Cabinet, they have to be elected parliamentarians or appointed as senators by the President.
Currently, President Mugabe can only appoint five senators and is likely to appoint Zanu PF ministers who lost in by-elections.
An unnamed source was quoted by the paper as saying: “That is a real practical challenge the negotiators will have to grapple with. How do you come up with an all-inclusive government against an electoral result that excludes the defeated?”
The MDC ironically asked for the number of appointed parliamentarians to be reduced from thirty in the House of Assembly to five in The Senate. According to The Herald, the MDC is now said to be negotiating for a reversal of this clause to allow President Mugabe to appoint more MPs.
The talks are scheduled to end in two weeks’ time from the date the MOU was signed. Critics say this is a realistic time frame as the teams have been involved in negotiations before.
MAKONI’S PROJECT HITS BACK
Meanwhile, former presidential candidate and founder of the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn Project, who came third in the March 29 presidential race, has hit back at claims that he is no longer relevant in Zimbabwean politics after the signing of an MOU by the main political parties.
Mavambo spokesperson Godfrey Chanetsa said the movement still alive and that it will very soon be invited to join the other parties in resolving the national crisis.
He said the signing ceremony (of the MOU) was merely an event, but the process is yet to be realized.
Makoni is expected to form a fully fledged political party in due course which will be called the National Alliance for Democracy (NAD).
[Report based on various media sources including The Herald and AFP news agency]
