Links ~ 22 - 23 August 2008

Zimbabwe Parties Maneuver Before Reopening of Parliament (VOA Africa)
Zimbabwe’s main political parties are maneuvering for position and tension is on the rise in the run-up to the scheduled reopening of parliament next Tuesday. The Movement for Democratic Change formation of Morgan Tsvangirai warned that reopening parliament before a power-sharing deal is reached could scuttle the talks. But the formation is expected to see its members sworn in Monday and attend the reopening Tuesday. President Robert Mugabe’s hopes of forming a coalition government with the MDC grouping led by Arthur Mutambara appeared Friday to have been dashed – formation members were threatening to jump to the Tsvangirai formation if such an alliance were proposed.

No power for Tsvangirai - ZPF (The Zimbabwean)
The ZANU PF politburo has reportedly resolved that Robert Mugabe should not concede to MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s demands to become executive prime minister, even if the dialogue between the two party leaders collapses – a move that has seen the talks reach a dead end. [...] Mugabe’s army commanders and war veterans are now urging the dictator to dissolve parliament, soon after it resumes sitting next week, and order fresh elections in which Mugabe would win through a campaign of violence. South African based journalist Basildon Peta told Newsreel on Friday it is “unlikely that Mugabe will resort to that drastic step”, but he added it was far more likely that he will launch a campaign of “targeted assassinations” against Tsvangirai’s MDC MPs – at least seven of whom are still in hiding.

Zimbabwe security on alert after bombing attempt (Reuters)
Zimbabwe police said on Friday there had been an attempt to blow up a road and rail bridge on one of the country’s major highways near Harare.

Tsvangirai stages coup on Mutambara (The Zimbabwe Times)
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has reportedly secured the support of eight legislators aligned to a rebel MDC faction led by Dr Arthur Mutambara. Insiders in both the Tsvangirai led MDC party and the breakaway MDC faction disclosed on Friday that the opposition party which ended Zanu-PF leader Robert Mugabe’s majority in parliament after routing the former ruling party in the March general elections had made a major breakthrough by securing the support of eight disgruntled MP’ belonging to the Mutambara faction. (NB: VOA reports that “But MPs from the Mutambara formation told VOA they were willing to support a Tsvangirai candidate.”)

Tantrums of a pre-mature political baby (Kubatana blog)
Rejoice Ngwenya shares with Kubatana his take on the power plays between Mutambara, Mugabe and Tsvangirayi. In the realm of big boy (or bully boy) politics in Zimbabwe, may the best man win . . .

Share This