Harare - Zimbabwe’s opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai boycotted a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki and President Robert Mugabe on Saturday demanding that if any talks are to be held there has to be a representative from the African Union.

The meeting had been scheduled to lay the ground work for talks between the main political parties that were elected into the house of assembly in the March 29 parliamentary and presidential election.

MDC’s breakaway led by Arthur Mutambara attended the meeting. Addressing journalists at Zimbabwe House, the mediator in the talks, President Mbeki said: “We had scheduled a meeting between the principals of the main political parties to get a common agreement to map a framework for talks to solve the country’s political crisis.”

He however said that Morgan Tsvangirai requested that the meeting be postponed to a later date as he was in talks with the African Union to request for an expansion of the negotiating team.

Mbeki said: “Tsvangirai requested for this meeting with President Mugabe and we agreed on Friday for the meeting to take place. Unfortunately we only got to know after we had arrived here that he had requested for the postponement of the meeting.”
Mbeki added that the AU will make its contributions but all African states are in agreement that talks between the political parties should go ahead to find a solution to the political crisis in Zimbabwe.

President Mbeki however said it was necessary that the Tsvangirai led MDC formation be represented for the talks to proceed. Sources close to the meeting say Morgan Tsvangirai declined to be part of the meeting on reasons that there was no AU representative.

Tsvangirai has in recent past expressed reservations on President Mbeki’s mediation efforts accusing him of bias towards Mugabe.

On Wednesday Tsvangirai made indications that his part was only going to be part of the negotiations if the African Union sends a permanent representative to the talks between ZANU PF and MDC.

Tsvangirai’s spokesperson George Sibotshiwe said: “We are communicating with the AU to have a representative on the ground. We need a permanent AU representative to be on the ground and work with both political parties not to have one mediator (President Thabo Mbeki).”

The AU did not appoint a negotiator for the Zimbabwean political impasse at the end of its 11th Ordinary summit but only maintained that talks should immediately be held to find a solution.

The political standoff in Zimbabwe is intensifying with both political parties putting demands that could complicate the talks.

President Mugabe has demanded for the recognition of his presidency in a one man election that has been widely described as a sham.

The leader of the MDC breakaway Authur Mutambara said: “Any negotiations in Zimbabwe will only make sense if all political parties are involved, in particular if Morgan Tsvangirai and his team are involved and we hope in future they will be part of the process.” He emphasised that his party attended the meeting as an independent entity and not as a supporter of President Robert Mugabe. Justice, legal and parliamentary affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa who spoke on behalf of ZANU PF soon after the meeting described Tsvangirai’s boycott of the meeting as utter disrespect.

“Tsvangirai’s boycott was a sign of utter disrespect. At least he should have turned up and gave directions to the negotiator and also table his reasons for postponement of the meeting,” Chinamasa said. He added that the country should be careful that Tsvangirai’s actions could precipitate seeds for turmoil and described him as a Savimbi in the making. “The next weeks will show whether we now have another Savimbi in the making, a Savimbi who is committed to plunge the country into turmoil,” he said. Chinamasa said the talks will proceed with or without Tsvangirai and that ZANU PF was committed to see the talks going through.