Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe will officially open Parliament on Tuesday despite opposition warnings that such a move would endanger crucial power-sharing talks.
Parliament clerk Austin Zvoma told reporters the new parliament would convene on Monday.
Tendai Biti, secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said in a statement earlier that convening Parliament would break a framework agreement governing power-sharing talks to try to end Zimbabwe’s political crisis.
”Any decision to convene Parliament will be a clear repudiation of the memorandum of understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of Zanu-PF’s unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks. In short, convening Parliament decapitates the dialogue,” Biti said.
In March elections, the ruling Zanu-PF lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980, but Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC did not win an overall majority either.
The balance of power rests in the hands of a breakaway opposition faction led by Arthur Mutambara.
He has moved closer to Mugabe in recent weeks and any deal between them could weaken Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s most powerful opposition leader, and add to political uncertainty.
The MDC initially said on Tuesday it had no objection to the opening of Parliament but would reject any moves by Mugabe to appoint a Cabinet before a power-sharing deal is reached.
Zimbabwe Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Zanu-PF’s chief negotiator in the talks, said: ”Yesterday [Tuesday], they said they had no problem with Parliament opening, and today they have a problem? I have no comment on that.”
Power-sharing negotiations began last month to resolve the impasse resulting from Mugabe’s unopposed re-election in June. The vote was condemned around the world and boycotted by Tsvangirai because of attacks on his supporters.
Staggering inflation
The political deadlock over who will control the government has hindered efforts to ease Zimbabwe’s economic crisis.
Inflation rocketed to a staggering 11-million percent in June, the highest in the world, from 2,2-million in May, and chronic food, fuel and foreign-currency shortages are worsening.
But many economists believe the figure is higher still and it has little meaning for Zimbabweans, who find that a loaf of bread costs almost five times more than it did a month ago — if it can be found for sale.
”Do they say in that figure that we can no longer afford bus fares, rent, hospital fees and that we can’t buy groceries? If the numbers don’t say that, then it is meaningless,” said Sarah Machakairie (48), a Harare vegetable seller.
Zimbabweans hope for a new leadership that can find a quick way to tame inflation and ease hardships that have driven millions out of the country and strained regional economies.
”When you’re going into a hyper-inflation cycle, until such a time as the authorities take appropriate steps to counter it, it seems to continue to spiral out of control,” said Leon Myburgh, analyst at Citigroup in Johannesburg.
The MDC challenges President Robert Mugabe’s legitimacy, but under Zimbabwean law, Parliament is convened and officially opened by the state president. — Reuters