Links ~ 27 October 2008

Zimbabwe’s Tsvangirai says no deal just to satisfy mediators ~ AFP
“We don’t want our issues to go outside Africa,” [Tsvangirai] added. “When they (the regional leaders) come on Monday we shall respect them.” But, he said, if the diplomatic moves of the South African mediator Thabo Mbeki, were misdirected, there would be no deal. He said his party had one message for Mbeki: “Quiet diplomacy has its limits, we give him all the respect (but) we may end up abandoning quiet diplomacy when we realise quiet diplomacy is being led for wrong approval.”

Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF warns Tsvangirai ahead of talks ~ AFP
Zimbabwe’s ZANU-PF chief negotiator in the power-sharing talks issued a stark warning to opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai ahead of key talks Monday on a unity government. “If Tsvangirai does not stop campaigning for sanctions against Zimbabwe to further cripple the country’s economy, then we are headed for trouble,” Patrick Chinamasa told AFP. And he warned Tsvangirai against a boycott of the talks, after he failed to attend last Monday’s meeting of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Swaziland. “We trust that Tsvangirai will not treat Monday’s troika meeting with the same contempt and utter disrespect that he did with the Swaziland meeting,” Another boycott by him will irreversibly strain ZANU-PF’s patience and will be the last straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Chinamasa.

Mbeki ‘endorses Mugabe’s dubious cabinet’ ~ IOL
Sources said the MDC was worried that the composition of the troika – representatives from Swaziland, Tanzania and Angola – would prevent the deadlock being broken. The party wants a summit of all the SADC heads of state to hear the matter. The MDC is also said to be planning an “onslaught” on the mediator, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, after claims that he delivered a controversial report to the troika last week approving Mugabe’s unilateral allocation of ministries.

Mood sours over Zimbabwe deal ~ BBC
When Mr Mugabe unilaterally announced his cabinet the opposition condemned it as “a power grab, not power sharing”. Those words were echoed by EU foreign ministers, but Mr Mbeki’s proposals only differ slightly from Mr Mugabe’s list. Just two ministerial allocations have been changed. The finance ministry was awarded to the MDC, while home affairs – and control of the police – was to be shared.[...] It may have looked fair on first reading but Mr Mbeki made no mention of four ministries that Zanu-PF have also claimed for themselves. They are not insignificant: defence (and with it control of the army), justice, information and foreign affairs. [...] “It says a lot about Thabo Mbeki’s own ideology and the way he sees democracy in the African context,” Zimbabwean analyst Immanuel Hlabangana says. “You can see a man who struggles with Western ideologies and is trying to champion something different for Africa.”

ZANU PF pushes for rotating control of Zimbabwe’s home affairs ministry ~ APA
Zimbabwe’s ruling party is pushing for rotating control of the disputed Ministry of Home Affairs, ahead of Monday’s emergency summit of southern African leaders, a state-run newspaper reported here on Sunday. Quoting the ZANU PF position paper on a month-long deadlock over the sharing of cabinet positions between President Robert Mugabe;s party and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), The Sunday Mail said co-sharing of the contentious ministry would “ensure that there is continuity and that there are checks and balances”. The Ministry of Home Affairs controls the police force and differences between President Mugabe and MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai over who takes charge of the portfolio have stalled progress towards forming proposed unity government.

Zimbabwe shops stop accepting local currency ~ The Telegraph
While millions of Zimbabweans are already going hungry, the move by supermarket owners, who have few goods available for customers to buy, has added to the hardship experienced by the urban population. Most do not have access to foreign currency, such as US dollars or the South African rand, now demanded by shopkeepers for payment. A sign outside a supermarket in Harare’s wealthy northern suburbs informed the public on Sunday that, like many other shops, it would not accept cheques or debit cards, because they take too long to clear while the Zimbabwe dollar plunges hourly. Weeping with frustration, a well-dressed woman fled the shop in tears as she was left unable to buy anything, despite having amassed Z$14 billion for her weekly shop. But even cash was useless, and the shop manager told her he was only accepting US dollars. “I felt really terrible telling her this, she is a good customer, a really nice person, but it is too difficult to sell in local currency,” he said. “We don’t know how to mark up goods as the Zimbabwe dollar is worthless now.”

Bail Hearing Delayed for 2 in Zimbabwe ~ New York Times
Two prominent civic leaders, arrested more than a week ago in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s second largest city, for leading a peaceful protest to demand food for the hungry, will spend at least another weekend in jail because their bail hearing was delayed yet again. The two, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, who have been arrested dozens of times in recent years, remain in the Mlondolozi Female Prison. The group they lead, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, described the cells as overcrowded and lice-infested, with food limited to a small portion of cornmeal porridge and green vegetables. Their arrest and continued detention were but one sign that the government led by President Robert Mugabe was taking a harder line against its critics in civic groups and the political opposition.

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