Thabo Mbeki yesterday announced that a power-sharing deal had been agreed to by all three parties in Zimbabwe. Details have not been released, but opposition sources say that “Tsvangirai will become prime minister at the head of a council of ministers, the principal organ of government, which will be drawn from his Movement for Democratic Change and the president’s Zanu-PF party. Mugabe will remain president and continue to chair a cabinet that opposition sources say will be a largely consultative body. The real power will lie with Tsvangirai.” (From today’s Guardian) Full details will be released after Monday’s signing ceremony.
In light of the harsh criticism that Mbeki has received from all over the world for his apparent inaction in the face of the escalating Zimbabwe crisis, so you think he would be justified in flipping us all the bird? After all, by remaining in the confidences of Mugabe, he has managed to broker these talks which have lead to an orderly (I wanted to say peaceful, but that’s a step too far) transfer of power. Of course, there is a long road to walk yet, but this is one major leap forward.
The benefit of cutting short an old dictator’s rule after he’s already totally ruined the country is…minimal, yes. Would’ve preferred he did something before the country went down the toilet.
Not that it would improve his reputation much, he has so many other things to answer for too.
Although the details are still hazy this is to be applauded if it all works out.
Mbeki has been somewhat vindicated in his strategy of keeping Mugabe’s trust, but I think this agreement has more to do with other factors. Not least the MDC winning the last elections. Mugabe was recently booed and jeered by the majority of MPs in parliament. That’s not really a tenable position for a head of state.
And whilst I agree that resolving the situation sooner would have been preferable, that doesn’t mean we should not be pleased this has been (maybe) resolved now. It could have got a lot worse (full civil war, even worse famine etc. etc.).
I have great hopes for the country. Consider Croatia, now once again a favourite holiday destination.
It’s way too early to know if the deal will stick. Even if it does, it’s highly likely that everything will go to shit anyhow. In the extremely unlikely event that everything turns out for the best from here on in and Zimbabwe is a modern unified peaceful nation by e.g. 2030, there would be a good debate to be had about whether Mugabe could have been pushed into the deal before he managed to devastate what was one of the more advanced countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed - the people of Zimbabwe have suffered far too much already. If there is a peaceful solution available I don’t really care if it was brokered by Mbeki, the Pope or the zombified corpses of Hitler and Torquemada, I’d still take it. But I’m not hopeful.
It looks like it might be difficult to work out this problem. The ministries they’re fighting over are the critical ones for controlling the government.
Y’know what, this just isn’t funny. Not even in the marginally funny way really bad things can be. The only funny is in a twisted kind of insanity, like The-Joker-funny. This just isn’t the place for in-jokes and jokey pop culture refences.
The ministries they’re fighting over are the critical ones for controlling the government.