“It’s better no deal than a bad deal” – Tsvangirai
“Who is in charge of the cabinet?” Tsvangirai asked. “To whom do all these ministers report? Can you dismiss them if they breach? It’s fundamental.”
Tsvangirai said as he outlined his proposal for resolving the contentious issue of who would lead any unity government in a speech to SADC Cabinet ministers gathered on the eve of a Southern African Development Community summit.
“We have agreed that Mr. Mugabe will be president whilst I become prime minister,” he told the SADC ministers. “We envisage that the prime minister must chair the Cabinet and be responsible for the formulation, execution and administration of government business including appointing and dismissing his ministers …. A prime minister cannot be given responsibility without authority and be expected to deliver.”
In his speech to southern African leaders Friday, Tsvangirai said the two sides remained unable to agree on how powers would be divided between him and Mugabe,he said compromise was necessary
Tsvangirai, because Zimbabweans would reject a deal “if any party is greedy.”
The MDC won the most seats in parliament in March elections and proposed that the president have no power to veto laws. The opposition also proposes that the president “shall be commander in chief of the defense forces of Zimbabwe,” but exercise that power on the advice of the prime minister.
Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama refused to attend the summit to protest Mugabe’s welcome as a head of state.
President Levy Mwanawasa of Zambia,remained hospitalized in Paris but in speech read aloud by his foreign minister, called the events in Zimbabwe a “serious blot on the culture of democracy in our subregion,” singling out for criticism the June presidential runoff.
Asked Saturday by reporters what he would say to Mugabe if he was sitting next to him, Tsvangirai patted the couch in his hotel room and said: “I’ll say, ‘Old man, you’re out of touch. You’re out of place. Look around you. Who of your age is around?’ ”
In the streets of Johannesburg, several hundred protesters marched peacefully outside the summit, some holding up red soccer penalty cards reading: “Mugabe must go.”
Additional Reporting by AFP
Posted by Wellington Chadehumbe
on August 16, 2008. Filed under Local News.
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