WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.
Original Post Date: 2007-08-13 Time: 00:00:00 Posted By: Jan
By Peta Thornycroft
President Thabo Mbeki seems likely to go to the Southern Africa Development Community summit in Lusaka on Thursday unable to claim much progress on the Zimbabwe crisis.
Unless there is an unlikely and last-minute breakthrough between the Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Mbeki will tell SADC that Zimbabwe will not have a new constitution ahead of national elections next March.
Instead, Mbeki is expected to tell his peers that any reforms will have to emerge from an amendment to Zimbabwe’s independence constitution.
Mbeki was appointed by SADC to mediate between Zanu-PF and the MDC at a summit in Dar es Salaam in March, two weeks after MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and colleagues were savagely beaten by police.
At the start of the negotiations, a draft constitution hammered out in secret between the MDC and Zanu-PF in 2004 was used as the foundation to try to resolve disagreements.
But on the eve of the second round of talks last month, President Robert Mugabe made it clear he would never agree to a new constitution before elections next March.
His two negotiators, Labour Minister Nicholas Goche and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, failed to turn up for the scheduled talks on July 7/8.
Nevertheless, the two teams from Zanu-PF and MDC had already undertaken assignments from SA facilitators to isolate points of disagreement in that draft constitution.
Last weekend, when the two Zanu-PF negotiators finally turned up in Pretoria and met the two MDC secretary generals, Tendai Biti and Welshman Ncube, it had become clear that a face-saving mechanism for Mugabe had to be reached if there was going to be any progress at all.
They had to abandon talks on a new constitution. Any reforms would have to be accommodated within the 18th constitutional amendment due to be debated when parliament resumes in Harare on August 21.
Political sources close to the negotiations are not optimistic Mugabe will agree to substantial changes.
Zanu-PF’s proposal to SA mediators on a way out of the crisis has no political content beyond constantly reiterating that Britain is entirely to blame for the crisis in Zimbabwe, and so the solution rests with Whitehall, not reform of obnoxious laws.
The 18th constitutional amendment, which has already been gazetted, would facilitate simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections, expand parliamentary seats, and would give parliament power to appoint a successor should Mugabe retire or die in office.
The MDC, political sources point out, is not an equal partner in the negotiations as Zanu-PF is backed by extraordinary state power, while the opposition is the principal victim of Mugabe’s repression.
“It’s now up to the MDC. The ball is in their court to see what they can do with the 18th constitutional amendment,” said Mugabe’s former information minister Jonathan Moyo, now an independent MP.
Even if the MDC and Zanu-PF reach some accommodation, little time is left. Zimbabwe will go into election mode in early December.
It could begin even earlier if the fractured ruling party does not agree that Mugabe will be its candidate in the presidential poll. If that happens then Zanu-PF may call an unscheduled congress to elect new office bearers, including a presidential candidate.
One MDC MP said on Friday: “I think Zanu-PF is just playing, and they will not agree to the substantial changes we want. Mbeki has been outflanked by Mugabe who has never had any intention of relinquishing power or even a portion of it. Mugabe knows he has to hang on with grim determination even if his actions result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans.”
If electoral reforms are inconsequential, the MDC has one trick up its sleeve – to deny Mugabe undisputed election victory which he craves for his legacy and re-entry to the international community by boycotting the polls.