Links ~ 28 August 2008
Opposition won’t join Mugabe’s government (ZimOnline)
Zimbabwe’s opposition said on Wednesday it will not join any government formed by President Robert Mugabe before conclusion of negotiations meant to bring the country’s feuding political parties into an all-inclusive government of national unity. [...] “It’s very clear that if he announces the new Cabinet it’s a declaration of war against the people. You can’t just have a Cabinet without a mandate,” said Nelson Chamisa, spokesperson of Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC, urging the 84-year-old Zimbabwean leader to wait for the conclusion of negotiations.
Mugabe to name Zimbabwe cabinet despite opposition: minister (AFP)
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe will defy the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and form a new government, deputy information minister Bright Matonga said Thursday. “Nothing is going to stop us from forming a new government,” Matonga said in an interview on public broadcaster SA FM. “We need to move forward, we need to make sure that Zimbabwe regains its status, we need to work on the economy,” he said.
Security strongmen put pressure on Mugabe (The Star)
President Robert Mugabe is under pressure from his top military and security advisers to form a government on his own, and ignore the power-sharing talks between his ruling Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. Intelligence sources said on Wednesday that after Mugabe’s humiliation when he was heckled and harassed by MDC MPs while opening parliament on Tuesday, angry advisers had told the 84-year-old leader to immediately form a government without Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC.
Red Cross appeals for urgent food aid for Zimbabwe (AfricAsia)
The Red Cross federation has made an urgent appeal for 26.8 million dollars in emergency food aid for about 260,000 people in Zimbabwe, in a statement released late Wednesday. According to the United Nations, up to 5.1 million people, almost half of Zimbabwe’s population, may be without accesss to food by the end of this year, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies statement. “This preliminary emergency appeal, launched at the request of the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society, is therefore intended to provide vital support in responding to the immediate humanitarian needs of 260,100 particularly vulnerable people,” the statement said.
SADC criticism grows as humanitarian crisis continues in Zim (SWRA)
The once influential group of African leaders has been under fire since the summit that saw Robert Mugabe invited and welcomed as head of state – a move which has been described as a disconcerting recognition by SADC of an illegitimately elected leader. Meanwhile, a leaked confidential document this week exposed SADC’s support for Mugabe as Zimbabwe’s leader, after it revealed that SADC leaders sanctioned an agreement that would see Mugabe remain as head of State and of the government.
A question of survival under ‘too much Mugabe’ (Business Day)
Everywhere you go, Zimbabweans say the same thing. “It is too much hard. SA is easy; we must go there. There is too much Mugabe.” And so on. But everywhere, too, Zimbabweans — the few whites remaining (probably less than 10% of the 1970s peak of 250000) and the black majority — do what they have been good at through the worst of the Smith and sanctions years and, today, the worst of the post-independence era: making a plan. It’s all about survival for most; prosperity for a small elite using their access to government assets and foreign exchange to make often obscene amounts of hay.
How Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai shared a table for two (The Times)
The source said that during the dinner Mr Tsvangirai repeatedly raised the issue of violence carried out by Mr Mugabe’s army, police, war veterans and youth militia against MDC supporters before the presidential run-off elections in June. [...] “Mugabe said the violence came from the MDC but Morgan challenged him,” the spokesman said. “Eventually Mugabe agreed that they should meet again where Morgan could present him with the evidence. It was meant to happen the following Thursday but it never happened. Mugabe became unavailable. Now the old suspicion and antagonism have come back.”
August 28th, 2008 19:23
While it’s obvious the heckling is just an excuse, I don’t think it was right for MDC to do this. Parliament is not a football game and whatever the provocations MDC are responding to it’t not the way to do it. It’s a representative space and if we want rule of law and good behaviour from all, heckling & similar behaviour should be kept out of it. However satisfied it might make one feel, do not believe that is a constructive form of satisfaction. No justice is being done to those who need it, etc.