Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said no progress was made in the talks.
“We came to this meeting hoping we would put the people’s plight to rest and conclude these power-sharing discussions,” Tsvangirai told reporters on Monday as he left the talks.
“Unfortunately, there’s been no progress because the very same outstanding issues on the agenda … are the same issues that are creating this impasse.
“For us as the MDC, this is probably the darkest day of our lives, for the whole nation is waiting,” he said.
A unity government is seen as the best chance of preventing total collapse in once-prosperous Zimbabwe, where prices double every day and more than 2,000 people have died in a cholera epidemic.
A September power-sharing agreement has stalled amid fighting over who should control key ministries and regional leaders have failed to secure a compromise, despite international calls for stronger action.
Tsvangirai reiterated that the MDC was committed to the power-sharing deal but only if Mugabe ceded control of powerful ministries, such as home affairs, finance and information.
the leaders of zimbabwe don’t realise that they are digging an even biger hole for the ordinary zimbo and that hole will be a grae that the zimboz will be buried alive. i wouldn’t want to imagen a leader without pple to lead, that wil be impractical isn’t it.
This is very good i tell you one day we will be able to say what happend that day was ok until people realise that Mugabe is a bad man then they will come a good answer the army still love him the CIO still love him and many more when hunger hits hard then you will now see people picking up stones and wepons to strike the snake on the head then you will now know soon they will be change other wise let it be until some thing does happen we saw it at the time of Ian Smith so shall it be with mad uncle Bob and his gang
Mugabe is no doubt close to concocting the big lie so that he can unleash more intimidationon the opposition and retain his grip of an increasingly broken state. It’s clear the diamond fields were cleared as this will be a main source of funds to sustain for the rotten ZANU clique which will be all that is soon left of zimbabwe.
Guys you should have seen the good foods these guys were eating at Rainbow Towers? Imagine millions dieing and we make failed meetings to feed ourselves.Even Morgan now looks like a new Bob in the making.Zanu should now go ahead and form government we are sick with these talks!
mugabe will be dead in 2years, then wat will his co murderes and thieves do? run now or justice will catch up with u
I have always said in a democracy, there is nothing called power sharing. If people share power, who will be accountable. There is also nothing called negotiated democracy as those in Kenya wouyld want us to believe. This is utter nonsense. Democracy is a game of numbers. Its either you win or you loose. The MDC should just leave Mugbe to rule since he ‘won’ the election.
Mugabe, Tong nyika yawakawhinha zvinemutsindo.Unokokerei vawakakunda kuti vakubatsire. This talks thing has tken long. Ini handichazvida. Mugabe ngaatonge.
NONSENSE
TO JONATHAN MOYO
Mr Editor, may I take this space to speak to Jonathan Moyo, whom I can confirm that he has chosen to be an eternal, ruthless inflicter of pain to all the democratic forces in Zimbabwe. In his article, “Stop creating fall controversies” which appeared in his favourity mouthpiece the NewZimbabwe.com, the man unashamably stand on the tallest mountain of Zimbabwe and publicly announces his total allegiance to Zanu PF and all its evils. Not only that, in an expressly clear intention of campaigning for a ministerial post in the ever failing Mugabe regime (possibly, for the same post that he occupied before he was unceremonially kicked out and away from Zanu PF), the man strenuosly endeavours to support Rita Makarau and Johannes Tomana.
Jonathan Moyo, as a Zimbabwean and with Ndebele blood I wish to tell you that you are an utter disgrace, pain, tormentor and so satanic that I wish you would rather choose to keep quiet than cause such pain in us by your statements. Jonathan, this is not the time for political science that you used to teach at UZ; this is real life issues. Why would you want us to wish you evil things? You are clearly aware of our suffering under the Mugabe regime & Zanu PF but you deliberately elect to joist them up in a public manner like this? Can we then doubt your statements that you lost your father because of this regime by way of Gukurahundi? Are you choosing to dine, uplift, solemnise with the killers of your father? Jonathan, we as Zimbabwe are passing through a time when such things can be very sensitive to us, please you would rather reserve your comments and public support for Zanu PF now? Man, after voting for you as an Independent and you suddenly betray the people of Tsholotsho? Man, you are utterly out of touch and tune with your constituent; a disgrace of immense magnitude which deserves immediate rejection and abandonment. Jonathan, dont play with our lives, with our nerves? When we expect all reasonable people to be supportive of the peoples’ project as embodied in MDC-T position and you choose to utter such statements? Man, yindaba kanti, ulunywa yini, yini eyenzakayo ekhanda lakho? So you are this pathetic that today you choose to turn your backs to the povo and suffering for the sake of the comfort of ministerial benefits? Your days are numbered, soon you shall be a public reject.
Unity government has never solved anything in Zimbabwe. In 1980 Mugabe formed a unity government with ZAPU. 3 years later the unity collapsed, and Mugabe used SOME weak Zapu leaders like John Nkomo, Obert Mpofu, Callistus Ndlovu, Cephas Msipa to try and weaken ZAPU, although of these, Callistus Ndlov and Obert Mpofu were the ones who completely left Zapu and joined ZANU. The unity government did not stop Mugabe’s hunger for complete domination. He used the false calm to prepare his killing machine, the gukurahundi. When the Gukurahundi was ready, he expelled ZAPU and used the opportunity to terrorise Zapu supporters in Midlands, Matabeleland and parts of Mashonaland West, all this was Mugabe’s ploy to gain complete power. Gukurahundi was not a tribal war, but it was a way to eliminate politicaal opposition who happened to belong to minority tribes. When ZAPU finally surrendered, this did not lead to an improvement in the governance of the country, in fact what it did was to bring in new looter-leaders who wanted to catch up to the already looting looter-leaders of original tribalistic Zanu. If Morgan joins the unity government, Mugabe is going to use the false calm to strengthen his hold to power. The unity government will not solve Zimbabwe’s problems. What Zimbabwe needs now is not a patch up job. The damage done by 29 years of Mugabe rule is too severe that we need a completely new rebuilding not restructuring. You can only restructure if you have functioning structures. There are no structures in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe needs a complete paradigm shift. It is no longer a functioning society. The money used by Grace Mugabe to go shopping could have assisted hundreds of cholera victims. Those who still believe that the unity government will solve anything, then they are naïve .
The money used by Grace Mugabe to go shopping are part of the donations for chorela from UNICEF.
WHAT A THIEF !!
CATCH THIEF !!!!!
asking Rodolfo on behalf Jonathan Moyo, since did it become a crime to be a member of Zanu or being associated with the party that liberated Zimbabwe jointly with Zapu, till we tolerate each other political diversity, the chances are we will remain a propaganga riddled nation, there are good and bad people in Zanu, the same goes for Mdc, if you have the fair intellect, its obvious Zanu will not varnish overnight, its liberation credentials will go for generations, long live Zimbabwe
You just can’t do a deal with a Marxist Dictator ! it will never happen .
SADC leaders are betraying Zimbabweans at the expense of Mugabe their comrade! All negotiatins are being held with a view to satisfy Mugabe and not Zimbabweans. One might not be wrong to suggest that the SADC draft for power sharing was actually prepared by Mugabe then given to Mbeki so that intern Mbeki gives it to President Tsvangirai to sign and form a “power sharing agreement” thereby legitimising Mugabe’s presidency despite the fact that he did not win the elections.
A future Zimbabwe Government should not be a member of SADC or AU since these organisations have betrayed Zimbabweans at the hour of need.Mbeki and Montlande should never be allowed in a new Zimbabwe.
Maybe a South African government in the future will incorporate Zimbabwe as its newest province. The process will include the introduction of the Rand as the currency, and place any Zimbabwe government as a subordinate government to the SA federal government. Not a bad idea !
What is a Marxist dictator.
By Showbiz Reporter
Posted to the web: 19/01/2009 01:50:44
US RAPPER Curtis James Jackson III or 50 Cent, as he is known, is close to signing up for a March tour of Zimbabwe, it has been reported.
Tongai Mnangagwa, a spokesman for Longcash Entertainment who run a popular Harare joint, the Circus Night Club, told the Herald newspaper that negotiations with the star’s management were “at an advanced stage”.
The Get Rich or Die Tryn’ star is said to be keen to tour Zimbabwe and visit the Victoria Falls – one of the world’s premier tourist resorts.
“He indicated to us that besides the show, he would love to visit some of our top tourist destinations. He will spend at least three days in the country,” Mnangagwa told the Herald.
Despite biting poverty, the Zimbabwe government through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has recently paid thousands of dollars to hire some of the world’s biggest entertainers to perform in the country, including RnB star Joe Thomas and Jamaican reggae artist, Luciano.
It is unclear what role, if any, the ZTA will play on 50 Cent’s tour, if it does go ahead. But having toyed with the idea of bringing superstar Beyonce to the country in a bid to attract tourists, the ZTA would be keen to exploit 50 Cent’s tour to market the country as a safe destination for foreign visitors.
I AM GOING TO THIS CONCERT-IF ANYONE NEEDS TICKETS GET HOLD OF ME…
I do not see any progress with people like morgan in power.his interests are cetainly not for the zimbos but to entertain the whites and westerners. Obama should start afresh not by castigating mugabe like bush brown and tony blair did. He has promised a differnet approach and let him start with zimbabwe-lets see how he approaches it.If he can break our deadlock peacefully , then we can honestly say he is a man of change. One thing is certain -if he allows brown to corrupt him , then change will take a while in zimbabwe. To obama i say start on a clean slate and may be -hust may be -change will also come to zimbabwe.
Morgan must put the people ahead of his greed and a****on.He is clearly seeing people dying and yet he will not agree to a unity gvt to prepare for the next elections . This unity gvt is not about power but about stabilising the country and making preparations for the next general elections so that they are conducted in a free and fair enviroment like the march elections which did not provide a winner but a hung parliament.
Lets look at solving our own issues and not rely on outsiders. If you want to involve outsiders , then take on board the recommendations they come up with.I am not happy with morgan’s attitude. He seems to be taking Eddy corss’s advise that zimbabwe must burn and i think he has taken the wrong path yet again. Zimbabwe is burning and people are dying and yet his family is safe and trully well looked after..he therefore sees no need to rush .
Lets put zimbabwe fist-lets put you and me first..what have we got to lose lose by joining the GNU? life can only get better..anything is better than what we have right now…
EFFORTS to finalise the broad-based agreement appeared to have irretrievably collapsed yesterday after MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected Sadc proposals that would have seen an inclusive Government being formed by the end of this week.
President Mugabe and MDC leader Professor Arthur Mutambara assented to a proposal that would have resulted in a Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Cabinet ministers being sworn into office starting from January 24 in line with the agreement reached by the three political parties in September last year.
Instead, another Extraordinary Summit of Sadc Heads of State and Government will be held either in Johannesburg or Gaborone on Monday next week where the chair of the regional bloc and President of South Africa, Cde Kgalema Motlanthe, will give a full briefing on yesterday’s meeting.
At a Press conference in the early hours of this morning after hours of negotiations, Sadc executive secretary Dr Tomaz Salomao said the talks were inconclusive and Presidents Motlanthe and Guebuza and Cde Mbeki had recommended that a summit be held next week.
Early this morning, President Mugabe expressed dissatisfaction with the manner in which Tsvangirai had frustrated the implementation of the agreement and the proposals brought forward.
“It didn’t go well. We had a proposal from Sadc that would have brought us to a situation where the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers would have been sworn-in.
“We agreed to it, as did Mutambara’s MDC but MDC-T did not agree. They instead came up with their own counter-proposal that naturally was in conflict with the position of Sadc which would have seen us move forward and that is where the talks broke down.
“We will continue to discuss here at home. There will be a meeting of Sadc in a few days time where a report will be made to Sadc. We are for the Sadc proposal and abide by it to the full,” President Mugabe said.
(The full text of the Sadc proposal is reproduced elsewhere on this page.)
President Mugabe added that Government would continue discussions in a bid to find common ground over the Sadc proposal.
Though Tsvangirai insinuated that it was Zanu-PF’s fault that the talks had not yielded a positive outcome, he conspicuously refrained from mentioning to the Press that Presidents Motlanthe and Guebuza and Cde Mbeki had laid a proposal on the table.
Tsvangirai simply said: “The chairman of Sadc has suggested a meeting next week.”
Initially, Tsvangirai is said to have given indications that he would support the proposals if President Mugabe and Prof Mutambara would also do so.
However, after both Zanu-PF and the MDC made it clear that they had no reservations on the proposals, Tsvangirai turned around and said he needed to “consult” on whether or not to proceed.
In an interview afterwards, one of Zanu-PF’s negotiators to the talks, Cde Patrick Chinamasa, said Tsvangirai’s latest U-turn had surprised everyone.
“We as Zanu-PF told the Sadc chair, Cde Mbeki and Cde Guebuza — who is the acting chair of the Organ on Politics, Defence and Security — that we had no problem with the proposal put before us.
“In essence, the proposal was that the three parties issue a statement declaring that we would all support Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill when Parliament resumes sitting on 20 January, 2009 (today).
“This would be followed by the swearing-in of the Prime Minister and the two Deputies by January 24, 2009, after which Cabinet ministers would be appointed.
“MDC-T would make an undertaking to submit a Draft Bill for the National Security Council by January 24 because this is essentially something that they have demanded today.
“On the issue of governors, the parties would agree that these would be shared as and when vacancies arose according to a formula that the parties would agree on and that the allocation of ministries would be reviewed after six months.
“We agreed with all of this in the spirit of the agreement that we all signed and Professor Mutambara also assented to this proposal.
“However, Tsvangirai suddenly, and to everyone’s consternation, said he needed a bit of time to consult after initially saying he too would go with it if the other parties agreed.
“But as you know, and has become the norm with him, the little bit of time he asked for turned into hours and when he came back he said he had a counter-proposal and this was contradictory to the Sadc proposal.
“It is obvious that this is a delaying tactic meant to frustrate the implementation of the agreement in line with instructions from his handlers and advice from God-knows-who,” Cde Chinamasa said.
Zanu-PF, Cde Chinamasa said, would welcome MDC-T’s Draft Bill on the National Security Council, pointing out that the structure had always been in existence albeit in an administrative capacity and the opposition now wanted it reconstituted as a statutory body.
Cde Chinamasa added that Tsvangirai’s demands for the rescinding of the appointments of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor and the Attorney-General were misplaced.
According to the agreement, he said, President Mugabe was only required to consult Tsvangirai after he became Prime Minister but since the opposition leader had refused to be sworn-in the Head of State had been left with no option but to proceed for the good of the country.
He said the President had no legal obligation to consult anyone from any party over a State appointment.
“If you read the agreement and Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill, it is very clear the President Mugabe makes such appointments after consulting with the Prime Minister.
“There is no Prime Minister right now for the simple reason that Tsvangirai has refused to join Government and so President Mugabe has made the appointments in line with the Constitution and the laws governing the country.
“There was an urgent need to fill in the two positions in question. The Governor of the RBZ has been playing a leading role in fighting the illegal sanctions that Zimbabwe is wilting under and there is no way we can allow a vacancy in that office.
“In the case of the Attorney-General, there has been an increase in banditry and insurgency and there is no way we can operate without such an appointment because that office is the chief crime fighter in the country.”
Cde Chinamasa said it was clear that Tsvangirai wanted key offices to remain vacant so that the country would become ungovernable and this would advance his cause.
“MDC-T’s intention is to create a vacuum so that they can advance their agenda to illegally and unconstitutionally remove Zanu-PF from Government.
“It is to everyone’s knowledge that MDC-T was recruiting former soldiers and police officers for military training in Botswana with the intention of removing the Government. Without substantive people in crucial positions, they would create havoc and there would be no one to deal with the perpetrators of this insurgency.”
On Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill, Cde Chinamasa said it has to be made clear that this was a tripartite undertaking and not a Zanu-PF project and as such the opposition had to fully support it.
“We have learnt our lessons from the 2000 Constitutional Draft that was made to appear as a Zanu-PF project when it was a national one.
“Zanu-PF will not want to be ambushed by a rejection from a party acting in bad faith. So our position is that the Bill should be pushed through Parliament by the Ministry of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, which has been allocated to MDC-T according to the agreement.
“They should play a leading role and Zanu-PF would give all its support as we always honour our commitment to the agreement.”
Insiders revealed that yesterday’s proceedings started with a meeting between President Mugabe and Tsvangirai in which the latter presented a list of grievances.
Among them was a demand that all people arrested for politically-related crimes be released and that virtually all senior Government appointments be annulled.
“Tsvangirai wanted governors’ appointments to be terminated, for all ambassadors to be recalled and for permanent secretaries to be dismissed.
“President Mugabe flatly told him that this was just not going to happen because this would cripple the country.
“Furthermore, he pointed out that he had no obligation to consult Tsvangirai on these appointments because the agreement and the proposed law only made room for the Head of State to work with the Prime Minister.”
President Mugabe reportedly told Tsvangirai that there was no way he could consult him when he was not in Government and, therefore, not bound by the oaths of loyalty and secrecy.
WHO IS MORGAN CONSULTING ALL THE TIME? HE IS SIMPLY NOT FIT TO BE PRESIDENT OF ZIMBABWE.WHEN WILL HE EVER MAKE A DECISION? FLIP FLOP TILL I DIE…BE CAREFUL THE ZIMBABWE YOU WISH FOR -SOON YOU WILL ALL BE SLAVES WORKING ON FARMS AND MINES.THIS GUY IS BAD FOR BUSINESS..DONT FORGET I TOLD YOU.
TO DINHA
Dinha sir/madam, the liberation credentials that Zanu PF used to have were completely and finally eroded in 2000. From thereon, Zanu PF assumed murderer, killer, directionless credentials. Do you think there can still be holy person in Zanu PF whose hands arent dripping with human blood? If there are any, and they have never killed or approved the massacre of innocent Zimbabweans, they are guilty by association. If you didnt know, Zanu PF shall be remembered as a party that inflicted the most pain to Zimbabwean people.
This crap about failed talks is all because King jende lost the elections but wont give up! 9 months without a government is very very scandalous to say the least. Months &months of talks about nothing no direction what so ever. We are all waiting for a unity govt but at this rate it will take us another 5 yrs and by then elections are due. Now without wasting time plse take note of the following;
1)we are already a bantustan of South Africa because of these delays. They might as well call us THE BANTUSTAN REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE —-haven’t we lost enough sovereignty already???/
2)The right to govern is always and only given by the people —it is earned from the people , so if any of the political parties feel they are not satisfied with the GNU,then be man enough and lets go for ELECTIONS TOMORROW and let the winner govern.This squable is taking us nowhere but elections will definately produce a winner this time round!#$%^&*()_+