HARARE – Prime Minister (PM) Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday met negotiators from his MDC-T and President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU PF party as he pushes for a speedy resolution of a power-sharing dispute threatening Zimbabwe’s coalition government.

Tsvangirai’s spokesman James Maridadi told ZimOnline that negotiators from Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara’s MDC-M party did not attend the meeting with the PM due to other pressing commitments.

“They met and discussed the urgency of business at hand. Because other negotiators were not available due to other pressing issues, the PM has taken it upon himself to brief them,” said Maridadi.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC)’s special organ on defence and politics earlier this month gave the Zimbabwean parties two weeks to open up negotiations to resolve outstanding issues from last year’s power-sharing agreement or global political agreement (GPA) that gave birth to the coalition government. 

Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara met last Friday but apparently decided to task their party officials to thrash out possible solutions to differences rocking the unity government.

However the Zimbabwean parties look set to miss the SADC deadline given on November 6 as they are yet to begin serious talks to tackle differences that saw Tsvangirai and his party temporarily boycott Cabinet meetings and only agreeing to end the protest action after intervention of regional leaders.   

The outstanding issues holding back Zimbabwe’s coalition government include Mugabe’s refusal to rescind his unilateral appointment of two of his top allies to head Zimbabwe’s central bank and the attorney general’s office.

Mugabe has also refused to swear in Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister while the MDC-T is also unhappy by what it says is selective application of the law to target its activists and officials.

On the other hand Mugabe, who insists that he has met all his obligations under the GPA, accuses the MDC-T of not living up to a promise to lead a campaign for lifting of Western sanctions against the veteran Zimbabwean leader and members of his inner circle. – ZimOnline