Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's formation of the Movement for Democratic Change has accused its partners in the country's troubled national unity government of failing to cooperate in discussions urged by regional leaders to resolve issues that caused a crisis last month.
Despite a Nov. 5 mediation directive by the Southern African Development Community's troika on politics that the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe and the two wings of the MDC should open intra-governmental talks and resolve key issues by early December, negotiators for the three governing parties have still not managed to get together.
The Tsvangirai MDC in a statement today blamed this on what it called the “intransigence, mischief and insincerity” of ZANU-PF the rival MDC formation led by Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.
ZANU-PF's chief negotiator, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Mutambara MDC negotiator Welshman Ncube, minister of industry and commerce, said they had prior engagements that conflicted with the meetings that the Tsvangirai MDC tried to convene.
ZANU-PF deputy spokesman Ephraim Masawi declined to comment on the complaint by Mr. Tsvangirai's party, saying he had not been briefed by his fellow party officials.
But Ncube of the Mutambara formation told VOA Studio 7 reporter Blessing Zulu that Mr. Tsvangirai’s party was being disingenuous in blaming his formation.
But Economic Planning Minister Elton Mangoma, one of the Tsvangirai formation's negotiators, charged that ZANU-PF and the Mutambara MDC were scuttling the talks intended to resolve issues including the tenure of the governor of the Reserve Bank and the attorney general.
