Regional leaders from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) troika on Defence, Politics and Security who met with principals to Zimbabwe’s power sharing agreement, Robert Mugabe of Zanu PF, Morgan Tsvangirai of the larger MDC formation and Professor Arthur Mutambara of the breakaway MDC, failed on Monday to break the impasse over the allocation of cabinet posts.
The talks, which took 13 hours and ended in the early hours today failed to be concluded after disagreement largely on the allocation of the Ministry of Home Affairs, under which the police fall. The troika recommended that the matter be referred to a full SADC summit of regional heads of state and government.
SADC executive Secretary, Dr Tomaz Solamao, said in a communiqué” "The extraordinary summit of the Organ recommended the holding of the full SADC Summit to further review the current political situation in Zimbabwe as a matter of urgency.
“ The extraordinary summit, however noted the progress made so far regarding allocation of ministries and that there is convergence between the parties with respect to co-operative management of the Ministry of Home Affairs. The summit therefore strongly encourages the parties to pursue this option.”
The deadlock over allocating Home Affairs stems from Tsvangirai’s argument that if Mugabe’s Zanu PF is to get the ministry of defence, then MDC takes full control of Home Affairs. Zanu PF however favours co-sharing the ministry.
Presenting the communiqué, SADC executive secretary, Dr Tomaz Salomao said: "The extraordinary summit, however, noted the progress made so far regarding allocation of ministries and that there is convergence between the parties with respect to co-operative management of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
"The summit therefore strongly encourages the parties to pursue this option."
"The only outstanding issue is that of Home Affairs. No fresh issues were brought up.
"We are confident that this issue will be finalised. Other issues remain to be resolved but these will only come afterwards," said Dr Salomao.
Zanu PF and the two MDC formations signed a power sharing deal on 15 September at Rainbow Towers in the capital, Harare, that is to set a framework for a government of national unity. Under the deal, Robert Mugabe is to be President, Tsvangirai Prime Minister and Professor Mutambara Deputy Prime Minster. The political parties also agreed to set 31 cabinet posts, with Zanu PF getting 15 posts, MDC Tsvangirai 13 and the smaller MDC formation three.
Police broke a demonstration by hundreds of activists who protested at the venue of the SADC meeting over the delays by the political figures in reaching a final political settlement. The demonstrators who include the Zimbabwe National Students Union, Youth Forum, Restoration of Human Rights in Zimbabwe and the Women’s Coalition waved placards written, ‘We are dying of Hunger” calling for the formation of a government of national unity as a matter of urgency. Over 50 people were arrested in the protest.
Zimbabwe is currently facing a devastating economic recession, with inflation at more than 230 million percent. Most Zimbabweans are grappling with a food crisis, with the World Food Programme (WFP) reporting that more than 5 million people are facing starvation.
