The Financial Gazette

Clemence Manyukwe, Political Editor

KNIVES are out for Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara over allegations he misled South African President Jacob Zuma — the man trying to break the costly political impasse in Zimbabwe — that parties to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) had agreed that provincial governors would only be appointed simultaneously with the removal of sanctions slapped on ZANU-PF leaders by the United States and the European Union. Feeling hard done by Mutambara, who played right into ZANU-PF’s hands, the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), headed by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, is seething with anger and has since communicated with Zuma’s facilitation team repudiating the deputy premier’s assertions that have also been condemned by senior members within his own party.
The discord over the garrulous Deputy Prime Minister’s two letters penned on June 10 and August 10 has fuelled rifts within his MDC-M.
The two letters became the basis upon which Zuma, who is desperate to fend off a crippling strike in his country, crafted a report that was presented to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Summit held in Namibia about two weeks ago.
The letters have now returned to haunt their author.
Mutambara, who abandoned a rewarding private sector career in February 2006 to take up leadership in the smaller MDC faction, is now standing on shaky ground ahead of the party’s congress next year where he is expected to be challenged for the post of president.
Welshman Ncube, his secretary-general, is rumoured to be one of the senior MDC-M officials gunning for the party’s presidency.
With Gibson Sibanda, the former MDC-M vice-president, out of the picture due to death at the age of 66, and with Mutambara mercilessly shooting himself in the foot, Ncube appears to have gained sufficient gravitas to catapult him to the apex office if he so wishes.Mutambara — previously accused by some in the MDC-M’s rank and file of glorifying President Robert Mugabe in almost the same measure as the veteran nationalist’s publicists — has also closed the door on the appointment of a top official in his party. Paul Themba-Nyathi, an influential figure in the MDC-M, was eyeing the Matabeleland South governorship as a way out of the political oblivion he was forced into following his electoral defeat in the 2008 general polls and the subsequent failed bid to land the position of Speaker of Parliament during the same year.
The deputy premier’s position has also already hardened ZANU-PF’s resolve to dig in its heels on issues raised by the other GPA partners as outstanding matters until the lifting of sanctions.
He has also given President Mugabe an unlikely ally to fight from his corner as pressure mounts for new appointments of the 10 provincial governors and resident ministers following the expiration of the tenure of the current appointees.
With the main political actors holed in their positions, it is now all too clear that the deadline given by Zuma at the SADC summit in Windhoek would be ignored.
In his report to the SADC Troika, Zuma implored the three principals to resolve the outstanding issues threatening the power-sharing pact within 30 days.
But indications are that, nearly 15-days after the ultimatum, the GPA principals are far from narrowing their differences, setting the stage for continued squabbling within the unity government.
Zuma had also recommended that the SADC Troika should persuade the regional bloc to help Zimbabwe to come up with guidelines that will result in violence-free elections, which President Mugabe said would be held next year.
Zuma’s report also said the three principals had instructed the Minister of Justice, Patrick Chinamasa, to immediately lead the drafting of Electoral Act amendments.
The issue of amending the Electoral Act is one of the 24 agreed issues contained in the GPA implementation matrix that has since been approved by Cabinet and the principals.
The others include an agreement to speed up the process of vetting, training and engagement of security personnel for Prime Minister Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara and to expedite the establishment of a National Economic Council.
Ncube, the chief negotiator in the deputy premier’s formation, revealed in an interview that during talks, the only thing that had stalled the appointment of governors was that their term of office had not lapsed leading to an agreement that new faces would be brought in at the expiration of the current terms.
“If anyone is saying anything else, if anyone is shifting goal posts, then that person is not sincere,” Ncube said.
But Deputy Prime Minister Mutambara insists that he was mandated by the other principals — the President and Prime Minister Tsvangirai — to communicate with Zuma that the appointment of provincial governors would be done “simultaneously and concurrently with the lifting of sanctions”.
In an interview yesterday, MDC-T spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa, said the premier had never agreed with the Deputy Prime Minister on what he termed a “ridiculous and bizarre arrangement”.
“Our position and that of president Tsvangirai is that we are waiting for the swearing in of new governors. At no point did he accept a ridiculous and bizarre arrangement of saying concurrence,” said Chamisa. “We have clarified that position to President Zuma and SADC is aware. There is no link between the issue of governors and the restrictive measures.”
The move has thrown a lifeline to ZANU-PF governors who were set to vacate office including Ephraim Masawi (Mashonaland Central), Aeneas Chigwedere (Mashonaland East), Christopher Mushohwe (Manicaland) and Faber Chidarikire (Mashonaland West).
The others are Angeline Masuku (Matabeleland South), Thokozile Mathuthu (Matabeleland North), Cain Mathema (Bulawayo Metropolitan), David Karimanzira (Harare Metropolitan), Jason Machaya (Midlands) and Titus Maluleke (Masvingo).

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