Following MDC’s refusal to form a coalition government with the ruling ZANU-pf after an invitation from Zimbabwe’s veteran leader, Robert Mugabe, the latter has been quoted as seeking to form a new government without the opposition.
A power-sharing deal brokered by the African Union (AU) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), in September 2008, hoped to bring the two sides together in coalition government until the next elections.
But the opposition has declined to join the government, claiming Mugabe was monopolising all important cabinet portfolios.
This prompted the Zimbabwean leader to write to SADC last week, advising the group of his intention to unilaterally form a new government without the opposition.
The Herald newspaper, quoting unnamed official sources, said Mugabe planned to name a new cabinet by February.
The opposition has said such a move would end all power-sharing talks between the two sides.
Mugabe’s spokesman George Charamba, the only official quoted in the Herald story, said: “The president is very clear that he should carry SADC with him in putting together his government.”
