Zimbabwe President Mugabe has said he hoped that the agreement by the country's tree main political parties to form an inclusive government by Feb. 13 marks the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe's politics, The Herald reported on Wednesday.
The agreement was made at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Extraordinary Summit which ended early on Tuesday morning in Tshwane, South Africa, though opposition MDC-T seceretary-general Tendai Biti made a sudden U-turn, contradicting a communique issued after the meeting.
Speaking to the media at the Harare International Airport after returning from the summit, Mugabe confirmed that the opposition had finally agreed to join the inclusive government.
President Mugabe said he hoped that this marks the beginning of a new era in Zimbabwe's politics.
"We did agree that an inclusive government should be formed. Dates have been stipulated for the various activities, which include the formation of the government itself with the swearing- in of the top people, that is the prime minister and deputy prime ministers, then the ministers, and then that the government should be in place," he said.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) leader Morgan Tsvangirai should be sworn in on February 11 along with opposition MDC leader Arthur Mutambara as Deputy Prime Ministers.
President Mugabe said once the government is in place, it will start looking into the concerns raised by opposition MDC-T, including the issue of the appointment of provincial governors.
"This shall start with the constitutional amendment in Parliament which will legalize this whole framework. It ( Constitutional Amendment Number 19 Bill) should be debated in Parliament soon. We do hope that things will open up now. This is a new chapter in political relations in our country and in the structure of Government," Mugabe said.
Under the agreement, President Mugabe remains head of state and government, commander-in-Chief of the Zimbabwe Defence Forces, chair of cabinet and chair of the National Security Council ― currently constituted as the Joint Operations Command.
Asked how the efficacy of the inclusive Government will be determined, Mugabe said: "The enforcement shall be by us. We have an in-built mechanism to monitor this. And after six months, there will be a review of the progress made or the lack of it. In light of this, there should be compliance, I certainly hope there will be."
"However, the MDC-T, after consultations with suspected British and American intelligence officers, issued a conflicting statement against the SADC position. Speaking to the international media on Tuesday, party spokesperson Nelson Chamisa dismissed ( South African ) President (Kgalema) Motlanthe's statement, saying SADC had fallen far short of our expectations," the Zimbabwe president said.
"We did put to the summit our position on the outstanding issues. Unfortunately, our expectations were not met, our case was not received. In fact, there was no objective understanding and assessment of the situation," he said.
According to SADC chairperson and South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai had agreed to the SADC position in a closed-door session.
This is not the first time that MDC-T has turned against propositions by SADC in the regional body's efforts to salvage the September 15 broad-based agreement signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and MDC leader Arthur Mutambara.
Last week, Tsvangirai agreed to a proposition by SADC facilitator to the talks, former South African president Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza for the formation of the inclusive Government, but made a counter-proposal after making "consultations".
MDC-T has disregarded several SADC proposals for the implementation of the agreement, saying it wanted "outstanding issues" to be resolved before they could join the government.
According to a communique issued by SADC on Tuesday, the summit noted that Zimbabweans are faced with difficult challenges and suffering that could only be addressed once an inclusive Government is in place.
(Xinhua News Agency January 28, 2009)