Zimbabwe’s leaders have been caught up in a bout of vicious public bickering ahead of President Jacob Zuma’s visit, threatening his efforts to encourage more substantive dialogue.
Zanu-PF ministers stormed out of a Cabinet retreat at the weekend after Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara, head of a smaller Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction, told the meeting that Robert Mugabe had retained power by vote-rigging.
According to Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, Mutambara’s remarks ”undermined the legitimacy of a party in the inclusive government”. State media have launched a spiteful campaign against Mutambara and other opposition leaders following the collapse of the ministers’ meeting.
A row had already erupted over the MDC’s refusal to call publicly for an end to sanctions against Mugabe and senior members of his party.
Publicly, both sides insist the sudden spike in tension does not mean the government is under threat. Chinamasa said this week the walk-out was only a reaction to Mutambara and not a withdrawal from the unity government.
Gordon Moyo, senior minister in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party, said: ”Obviously, as a government in transition you will always have conflict. Our government has processes of conflict management and conflict resolution and these mechanisms will make sure that whatever happened will not recur.”
But Zuma faces a major task in cooling tempers to allow for more substantive dialogue about a raft of long-standing disputes that have bogged down the coalition.
Both sides have upped the rhetoric ahead of his visit, blaming each other for the slow progress of reform six months after the unity government was formed.
The Cabinet retreat was called to review the progress of government’s ”100-day” recovery plan. The one-upmanship that has marked the coalition for months replaced substantive discussions.
Zuma’s office said that ”in his capacity as chairperson of SADC [Southern African Development Community], [he] will be holding meetings with the leaders of Zanu-PF and the two MDC formations to be briefed on the implementation of the global political agreement”.
However, Mugabe’s spokesperson, George Charamba, played down the significance of the Zuma visit. ”President Zuma is coming here to officially open an agricultural show and not to resolve the MDC’s issues.”
Zanu-PF officials do not see Zuma taking a new stance on Mugabe, especially weeks ahead of the SADC summit. ”He’s no fool. He won’t take a different line.”
But Moyo said Mugabe’s unilateral appointment of allies to top state institutions, especially the Reserve Bank and the attorney general’s office, will ”be high on the agenda and I’m sure many other issues will be discussed”.
In a few weeks Zuma will hand over the region’s leadership to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s Joseph Kabila — a perceived Mugabe ally. But some MDC officials believe that, without the shackles of the SADC chairmanship, Zuma could take a tougher line on Mugabe.