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MDC: Zim dialogue is dead
21/02/2008 20:37 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwe's main opposition party announced on Thursday the end of its dialogue on political reforms with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF ahead of elections it said would be flawed.
"The dialogue mandated on March 2007 is dead," said Welshman Ncube, secretary-general of one faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
"That dialogue was about creating the conditions for free and fair elections and uncontestably the dialogue has failed."
Ncube was flanked at a press conference in Johannesburg by Tendai Biti, leader of the main faction of the MDC, whose talks with the ruling party were mediated by President Thabo Mbeki.
In a statement handed to journalists after the briefing, the MDC said legislative and presidential elections set for March 29 "cannot by any stretch of the imagination yield a legitimate outcome".
Biti is secretary-general of the MDC faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai, who will challenge Mugabe for the presidency.
Ncube's faction, led by Arthur Mutambara, has thrown its weight behind the candidacy of former finance minister Simba Makoni.
Mugabe, who celebrated his 84th birthday on Thursday, is hoping to secure a sixth term of office as leader of the former British colony he has ruled since independence in 1980.
Mbeki was appointed last March by the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) to mediate between the MDC and Zanu-PF on political conditions necessary for free and fair polls.
The South African leader has repeatedly come under fire for his "softly, softly" approach towards Mugabe.
Mbeki's spokespersonn Mukoni Ratshitanga rejected the MDC's assertion, saying: "The dialogue is not dead... President Mbeki is in regular and ongoing contact with both parties."
Continued negotiation was the only way of solving Zimbabwe's political woes, said Ratshitanga.
"In our view the best way to resolve the challenges in Zimbabwe is for the political leadership to talk ... therefore we think that the process needs to continue.
"The MDC statement is an indication that there is a need for more and not less dialogue."
Zimbabwean political analyst Augustine Timbe described the MDC's declaration as a "sad development" so close to the election.
"This is going to induce a sense of frustration among Zimbabweans ...," he said.
Chris Maroleng, a senior researcher at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies, said the ruling party was to blame for the breakdown but re-engagement was crucial.
"... the MDC had really no choice (but to) say that at this stage it looks quite clear that Zanu-PF has no intention of honouring the mediation," he said.
The elections are to take place against a backdrop of economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, which has an official inflation rate of more than 100 000% - the highest in the world.
Zimbabwe's last elections, won by Mugabe in 2002, were dismissed as rigged by western observers and the opposition.
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