The Zimbabwean opposition said on Friday it would not join a government of national unity with President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, widening the rift on possible negotiations between the parties to end Zimbabwe’s political and economic chaos.
Paul Themba Nyathi, the chief spokesperson for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, described suggestions of a unity government with Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party as a gimmick designed to demoralise opposition supporters.
”What we seek from dialogue is to find a route toward the restoration of democracy in the country. Anyone who thinks that the MDC seeks unity with Zanu-PF is engaged in delusional politics,” said Nyathi.
”If Zanu-PF and Mugabe think that the MDC seeks to march alongside them, they are gravely mistaken.”
He was responding to allegations printed on a pamphlet that the opposition was ”moving toward a unity government” in its preparations for new talks with Mugabe’s party. Nyathi said he believed pamphlet came from the ruling party.
He accused Mugabe’s party of ”seeking to redeem their image” by promoting the idea of a coalition government.
Earlier this week, Mugabe himself dashed hopes of a compromise with the opposition, seen as the only hope of dragging the country out of economic and political chaos.
He called on his opponents to ”repent and re-orientate themselves” before national political dialogue could resume, saying ”there cannot be unity with enemies of the people.”
South African President Thabo Mbeki and Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo have tried bringing the two parties to the negotiation table for more than a year.
Talks failed after the opposition refused to recognise Mugabe’s re-election for another six-year term last year. The MDC is challenging the results in court, claiming the vote was marred by rigging and intimidation by ruling party militants.
These allegations also saw Zimbabwe suspended from the Commonwealth.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday branded Mugabe an ”unelected despot” and said his nation should not be readmitted to the decision-making councils of Britain and its former colonies.
Howard was speaking on the sidelines of a Pacific leaders’ meeting in Auckland.
Zimbabwe is suffering its worst economic crisis since independence in 1980, with official inflation at 370%. Black market trading in scarce food and gasoline puts inflation closer to 700%.
Local currency shortages are blamed on the out-of-control inflation, the central bank’s inability to print money quickly enough and the hoarding of cash amid uncertainty in the crumbling economy.
The deepening economic crisis is blamed partly on the state program that seized thousands of commercial farms from the white minority for redistribution to black settlers. The programme is also blamed for greatly exacerbating a hunger crisis that threatens nearly half of the population.
The UN food agency estimates about 3,3-million Zimbabweans are currently in urgent need of food aid. Mass starvation last year was only avoided by international food aid. – Sapa-AP