When Zimbabwe's political rivals signed a power sharing deal this Monday in Harare, in the presence of African dignitaries from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), diplomats and other invited guests, the key message from the three signatories Zanu PF’s Robert Mugabe, the two MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai and Professor Arthur Mutambara, was commitment to ‘work together’ and see the deal pull the country out of the political and economic mud it has stuck in for a close to a decade now.
But judging from some of the utterances the signatories are making after the historic appendage to the political settlement, it seems a shift from dominance to consensus as a prerequisite for any agreement to work might take time to materialize.
The deal, which took approximately two months to seal, after the parties signed a Memorandum of Understanding which paved the way for inter-party dialogue in July, facilitated by SADC appointed mediator, South African president, Thabo Mbeki, saw Mugabe emerging as President, Head of state and chairperson of the cabinet, former trade unionist, Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister-designate and chair of a council of ministers and Professor Arthur Mutambara of a small breakaway MDC formation as Deputy Prime Minister.
But appearing on national television yesterday in his address to the 74th Ordinary session of the Zanu PF central committee, President Mugabe said, “If only we had not blundered in the harmonized election we would not be facing all this humiliation.” He was referring to the March 29 harmonised presidential, parliamentary and senatorial elections in which Tsvangirai won but fell short of the 51 percent majority required to be declared president.
The bone of contention is if the circumstances leading to the power sharing deal can be described by one of the signatories as “humiliation”, is there any sincerity as the different political parties gear themselves to work together in restoring Zimbabwe’s political and economic fortunes?
Furthermore President Mugabe told Zanu PF’s central committee members that,” we are still in a dominant position, which will enable us to gather more strength as we move into the future. We remain in the driving seat.”
Ironically, Tsvangirai told South Africa’s Talk Radio 702 yesterday that, “I am quite certain his (Robert Mugabe's) commitment to the agreement is unquestionable…. So I am quite confident that we can work together for the good of the people…. The president and myself will not have veto power over anybody but we will work to cooperate between the council of ministers and the cabinet. One reports to the other.”
Turning to Mugabe’s, “we are in the driving seat” domineering stance and Tsvangirai’s “we can wok together” consensus approach, can the politicians who signed a political settlement this week salvage the two opposites, “Consensus and Dominance” to attract and bring a workable solution to Zimbabwe’s problems?
Since the signing ceremony on Monday, leaders from the parties are yet to meet (they are expected to meet today) to deliberate on which ministries will go to which party, before cabinet is announced. Under the agreement, of the 31 cabinet ministries, Zanu PF will have 15 ministries, MDC 13 and the other formation 3.
They have been reports, though unconfirmed that Zanu PF is not at liberty to cede ministries they consider “powerful” like Finance, Home Affairs and Defence.
Kenyan Prime Minster, Raila Odinga, was quoted in a statement by Agence France Presse (AFP) suggesting power sharing as a panacea to Africa’s political crises.
“I pray therefore that the quick resolution of crisis in both Kenya and now Zimbabwe will be the norm. Only this way can we prevent the untold suffering that has visited too many African countries because conflict spirals out of control.
“In Kenya and now in Zimbabwe African themselves have prevented a crisis from growing into conflagration.”
Odinga signed a power sharing deal with President Mwai Kibaki in February after the disputed December 27 poll that claimed at least 1,500 Kenyan lives and displacing thousands.
Whether Odinga’s vision is one shared by other African political players, Zimbabwe included, is still to be tested medicine as long time political rivals, Zanu PF and MDC prepare themselves to work harmoniously in an all-inclusive government.
