Tsvangirai demands equitable authority in power-sharing deal
By Blessed Chapwati 27-10-08
Zimbabwe's prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai said he will only get into the power sharing arrangement if he is given meaningful authority in the inclusive government.Tsvangirai was addressing party supporters in Marondera 70 kilometres east of Harare on Saturday as part of a sounding exercise on the ongoing power sharing talks that are yet to be concluded following a stalemate on cabinet posts last week.
“I cannot get into a power sharing government if I am not given the tools to govern,” Tsvangirai said.

Tsvangirai called on the mediator former South African leader Thabo Mbeki to show impartiality or the power-sharing deal fails to materialize.
“To Mr Mbeki There is only one message: when you have started a job finish it well. We gave you all the respect but the danger is that quiet diplomacy has its limits; we will abandon it if we see that quite diplomacy is leading to quiet approval of wrong things. So to Mbeki we say when you come know what Zimbabweans wants. He must know that all the people are prepared to make an extra sacrifice and extra mile (of suffering).”
Power-sharing deal in Zimbabwe entered between Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe on September 15 has not taken off because they have not agreed on sharing the cabinet posts.

Tsvangirai accuses Mugabe of taking all the ‘key’ ministries such as defence, information, home affairs, finance and foreign affairs.

“ZANU PF is not sincere in the negotiations.  What kind of negotiating is it, when Mugabe cannot entrust me with a passport in my pocket.  I wonder how he can entrust me with the authority of the nation,” Tsvangirai said.

Last week Tsvangirai did not travel to Swaziland where the SADC Troika wanted the matter solved saying he had no passport. The meeting has since been moved to Monday in Harare.

Confirming that he would attend the Monday meeting Tsvangirai said: “When it comes to negotiations we fear no one. We have serious respect for SADC and African institutions, but they must learn to reciprocate that respect. We want this issue not to be solved beyond Africa. When they (SADC leaders) come on Monday we will respect them. We want to bring finality to this stupid thing.

We want this deal to work for the people of Zimbabwe.”The September 15 power sharing deal has been seen by many as the only hope to rescue the country out of its economic meltdown.

Once a prosperous nation, Zimbabwe now faces acute shortages of all essentials such as fuel, electricity, cash, food and medical drugs. Inflation rate officially stands at more than 200 million percent, though independent analysts put it at more than a billion percent.