No to ceremonial PM -Tsvangirai
Gweru-MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai vowed on Sunday that he would not sign any power-sharing deal with President Robert Mugabe unless the 84-year-old leader agreed to give up executive power.
Tsvangirai – sounding more defiant than ever before – said it was better for his MDC party to pull out of power-sharing talks with the ruling ZANU PF party than accept a deal that would leave the status quo untouched with Mugabe still entitled to his current wide-sweeping powers as head of state and government.
“Mugabe must be head of state and Tsvangirai head of government, without that I will not sign,” Tsvangirai told a rally to celebrate the MDC’s ninth anniversary in the city of Gweru in central Zimbabwe.
Tsvangirai promised not to bow to pressure from talks mediator South African President Thabo Mbeki to sign a draft deal that has been endorsed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) but which the MDC leader has rejected saying it would make him a “ceremonial prime minister” in a government of national unity.
“Mbeki is coming but be rest assured he is not the one who is going to sign,” said Tsvangirai, adding: “We would rather have no deal than have a bad deal.”
Mbeki, who is the SADC’s chief mediator in the Zimbabwe talks, is expected in Harare on Monday to try once more to push Tsvangirai to sign the draft deal that Mugabe and a breakaway faction of the MDC that is led by Arthur Mutambara have already agreed to.
Under the draft power-sharing deal Mugabe would remain executive president in charge of both state and government while Tsvangirai would be prime minister but without power to hire or fire government ministers. He would also not chair Cabinet meetings. The MDC leader would also be required to report regularly to Mugabe.
Tsvangirai insists he should get the lion’s share in any power-sharing government because he defeated Mugabe in the first round presidential voting on March 29 although he failed to secure the margin required to takeover the presidency.
The March vote is widely regarded as more credible than a second round run-off poll on June 27 won by Mugabe who was the only candidate after Tsvangirai pulled out because of state-sponsored violence against his supporters. Western nations and several African countries have refused to recognise the June poll.
The opposition leader challenged Mugabe to call a fresh poll if he was not willing to give up power through negotiations. “We are saying to him you can call another election under international supervision and let’s see who is going to win that race,” he said.
Photos from the MDC celebrations.Click to enlarge
-Additional Reporting by zimonline.
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on September 8, 2008. Filed under Politics.
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