|
GPA negotiators meet again
Last night, Zanu-PF negotiator Cde Patrick Chinamasa refused to shed light on headway being made, though sources said a report would be presented to the party principals by the latest, on Wednesday.
"We will meet again after Cabinet. Call me again same time tomorrow," he said.
All six negotiators from the three parties sit in Cabinet.
An informed source said: "A report will be ready either on Tuesday or Wednesday."
Yesterday evening, Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba said the report would be presented to the principals and was not being prepared for the facilitator, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma. "President Zuma did not even ask for them to prepare a report when he last visited.
"Out of courtesy, the principals will give a copy of the report being prepared for them to President Zuma for his own benefit before he meets the chair of the Sadc Organ on Politics, Defence and Security, President (Armando) Guebuza (of Mozambique).
"This will be a routine summation of developments on the negotiations front to date.
"The only difference is that this time around, the principals have agreed to share it with the facilitator," Mr Charamba said.
Sources close to the talks said any matters attendant to the appointments of Reserve Bank Governor Dr Gideon Gono and Attorney-General Mr Johannes Tomana appeared to be "falling away".
"The passage of the RBZ Bill in Senate recently has put to rest a lot of the concerns the MDCs had with Dr Gono.
"Right now, there is an Attorney-General’s Bill that is being discussed at Cabinet level and there is agreement that it will also put to rest any concerns there are about Mr Tomana.
"In fact, with Mr Tomana, the resistance that is there is now more at a personal level than with an appreciation of what the office he holds actually stands for.
"But this, too, should fall away soon," the sources revealed.
The sources said MDC-T negotiators Mr Tendai Biti and Mr Elton Mangoma were finding it difficult to tackle the issue of sanctions because party leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai had flip-flopped on his position.
"After saying sanctions must go, he then got pressure from some elements and subsequently told diplomats that he would not do anything to lobby for the lifting of sanctions.
"This is despite having undertaken to do so in the GPA. This has been causing problems for his negotiators as they try and tally the ever shifting positions."
The meeting with diplomats referred to, took place at Harvest House on March 10, a few days after Mr Tsvangirai publicly denounced sanctions for the first and only time to date.
He told the diplomats: "I would also like to take this opportunity to clarify that my position and that of the MDC on the issue of restrictive measures has not changed.
"We understand that Zanu-PF were the authors of these restrictions and we expect the international community to review them in line with democratic progress and reforms within Zimbabwe."
Insiders yesterday said President Zuma’s recent explicit denunciation of MDC-T’s attitude towards the sanctions had made the negotiators’ jobs more difficult.
After meeting Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, President Zuma said: "One part of the Government, which is the MDC, is functioning at full strength because they can travel abroad and mobilise while the other side cannot operate effectively . . .
"If sanctions are lifted, we can make faster progress."
The sources said the statement had been met with "panic" in MDC-T ranks because they took it to mean President Zuma was inclined towards Zanu-PF’s position on the matter. |
|
|
