Zim needs Mbeki - MDC

2008-10-01 14:28

Harare - Zimbabwe's logjam in forming a unity government could pull recently ousted South African president Thabo Mbeki back into the spotlight, as his help was sought Wednesday to mediate a solution yet again.

Zimbabwe's opposition said Mbeki and the regional bloc SADC would be asked to help break the stalemate after President Robert Mugabe and his rival Morgan Tsvangirai failed to agree on dividing key ministries under a power-sharing deal.

Opposition spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said on Wednesday the party was contacting the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and Mbeki.

"This is an urgent matter, communication lines to SADC have been activated," he told AFP.

Mbeki's forced resignation as South Africa's president last week raised concerns about the fragile power-sharing deal he had brokered to divide powers between Mugabe as president and Tsvangirai in the new post of prime minister.

SADC not contacted

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims that Mugabe's ruling party wants to retain key posts - believed to be the defence, home affairs, state security and finance ministries - in violation of the deal.

Mugabe said Monday that a new government would be formed by the end of the week, but that now appears a dim prospect.

The MDC has insisted that it will not act as "junior partners" in the new administration.

South Africa's ruling party, which recalled Mbeki from office in a humiliating premature end to his two-term presidency, and SADC have indicated they want him to continue his work in Zimbabwe.

SADC spokesperson Charles Mubita on Wednesday said the 15-nation group had not been contacted about the stand-off but said Mbeki was the "only channel" for handling Zimbabwe's crisis.

"If there is anything that needs to be discussed with Zimbabwe, there are channels, and the only channel is through the facilitator," he told AFP.

"They will then have to get in touch with the SADC mediator, which is former president Thabo Mbeki."

Mbeki's spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga said SADC would have to "formally pronounce" whether Mbeki would continue as mediator.

However he added: "President Mbeki will participate in any process that is aimed at taking the African continent a step forward."

Zimbabwe's police chief Augustine Chihuri said in the government-mouthpiece Herald newspaper that the remaining differences were "minor".

"We need to work together and forego our minor differences," he said. "Zimbabwe has now moved on with its politics as parties engaged in landmark talks to restore whatever seeming differences amongst them and a common understanding was reached," Chihuri said.

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and MDC splinter group leader Arthur Mutambara agreed on September 15 to a landmark power-sharing agreement.

The deal brokered by Mbeki was heralded as a historic initiative to resolve Zimbabwe's political deadlock and economic melt-down.

Once one of Africa's most prosperous countries, Zimbabwe now suffers the world's highest rate of inflation, last estimated at 11.2 million percent, leaving 80% of the population living in poverty.

- AFP