POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Jury Still Out On Power Sharing

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Tonderai Kwidini

HARARE, Oct 7 2008 (IPS) - One would have thought the signing of the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe would mean it was safe for 25 Movement Democratic Change supporters to gather in celebration at a shopping centre in Buhera.

But the MDC supporters were arrested by the police in this rural centre 100 kilometres northeast of Harare, and – more than two weeks after the landmark power-sharing deal was signed – charged under one of Zimbabwe's litany of oppressive laws, the Public Order and Security Act (POSA), which prohibits the gathering of more than 15 people without police clearance.

The MDC managed to grab the majority of parliamentary seats in the area, previously a Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) stronghold. The arrest of the 25 MDC supporters is testimony that the opposition party still has a lot to negotiate.

The political agreement signed on Sep. 15 hopes to amend this and other laws to do away with such limitations on civil liberties and restore the observance of human rights through the drawing up of a new constitution. But three weeks after the signing of the agreement, incidents like this continue to occur.

Despite the political agreement Tsvangirai still hasn't been issued with a new passport despite applying for it three months ago after the expiry of his current one. His party's chief negotiator at the talks, Tendai Biti, still has treason charges hovering over his head; many other MDC MPs still face many charges. ZANU officials continue to as label MDC leaders as puppets or sell-outs in state-owned media.

The MDC has also reported new political attacks directed at its supporters in both urban and rural areas. In a statement released on Sep. 28, the party said 61 of its supporters living in Mbare, one of Harare's political hotbeds, were assaulted at a police station where they had sought refuge after being violently evicted from their homes by ZANU-PF supporters.

"The MDC is being taken for a ride in this arrangement. ZANU -PF and Mugabe are not sincere because the deal is not cascading to the general population. On the ground people are still being arrested, violence is still being witnessed throughout the country," Harare-based political analyst Lovemore Madhuku told IPS.

"What the MDC has done by entering into such a flawed deal is to betray the people of Zimbabwe," says Madhuku, who is also chair of the National Constitutional Assembly, a non-governmental organisation fighting for the drawing up of a new, people driven and democratic constitution in Zimbabwe.

"They have exerted a blow to the standards of the struggle as many of the things that the people were fighting for will not come through this deal as Mugabe is only playing for time."

Violence against opposition supporters is also continuing in the rural areas, where aid workers are still the target of political violence. Humanitarian aid is yet to reach those in need despite a lift on a ban on aid activities imposed by the Zimbabwean government before the Jun. 27 presidential run-off election.

To make matters worse a new wave of farm invasions have been reported across the country. The Commercial Farmers Union (CFU), a grouping of mainly white commercial farmers, told IPS that at least 35 white farmers were evicted from their properties by known ZANU-PF supporters and government officials in the weeks following the signing of the political deal.

"Things have progressively got worse. There are lots of new invasions. Houses are being broken into by new settlers. The worst affected areas are the provinces of Manicaland, Masvingo and Mashonaland East, West and Central," CFU President Trevor Gifford told IPS.

These developments do not augur well for one of the priorities of the agreement: to mobilise farmers to grow enough grain to feed a hungry nation. Zimbabwe faces an acute shortage of grain and aid agencies predict that close to 5 million people are in need of food aid.

The United States Agency for International Development's (USAID)'s Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET) said Zimbabwe requires 788,719 tonnes of grain between now and the next harvest in May 2009.

The signing of the agreement was regarded by many Zimbabweans as the beginning of better things. But the politicians have failed to form a government because of disputes over the assignment of key cabinet posts.

"I really don't see anything coming out of this deal, in fact it is bringing us more suffering because more people are now dying of cholera and water and electricity shortages are continuing, education is collapsing and yet we thought things were going to be solved," said Ruth Chishava, a hairdresser in Harare.

The MDC which won a majority of council seats governing Zimbabwe's cities and towns also complains that the outgoing minister of Local Government Ignatius Chombo is still meddling in the work of local authorities making it difficult for them to roll out their programmes.

"MDC councillors have become victims of undue political interference in carrying out their day-to-day duties from ZANU PF officials in various parts of the country. The MDC is disturbed that this is against the spirit of national engagement," said MDC MP and Secretary for Local Government, Sessel Zvidzai.

ZANU-PF denies the accusations of interference and continuing political violence.

"It's difficult to solve issues through the media, even if they are legitimate cases why can't the MDC address them through the negotiating teams in the spirit of the talks. If it's done through the media we don't know if the cases are exaggerated or not.

"We don't condone nor tolerate violence, if MDC is sincere about the issues they should put them before the negotiating teams and political violence happens between supporters of two parties," ZANU-PF's Deputy Minister of Information and Publicity, Bright Matonga told IPS.

In an interview on national radio, the Minister of State Security in charge of Land Reform, Didymus Mutasa, also denied reports of violence on farms. "We stopped issuing new letter for farm allocations last year."

Despite the continuing violence, the MDC insists it has managed to significantly eat into Mugabe and ZANU PF's political power and believes Zimbabwe is on the right path to bring change.

"This is a compromise set up. It is just a stop-gap measure to deal with the unprecedented crisis in the country. True, the agreement does not give us all we wanted. But what we got, in the spirit of compromise, is sufficient to enable us to start activating the democratisation and economic stabilisation agenda," said MDC spokesperson, Nelson Chamisa.