Zimbabwe’s main opposition party says it is preparing to face a government crackdown after it yesterday rejected a South African-backed proposal to share the ministry that commands the country’s police force and controls its electoral machinery. Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change and prime minister-designate, rejected the idea of sharing the home affairs portfolio with President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF as unworkable. “They [Zanu-PF] are on the warpath,” said an MDC spokesman in Harare, who said that party leaders would meet later this week. “Now we have rejected the carrot, the next thing will be a very, very huge stick.”
The MDC won elections in March but then withdrew from presidential polls, citing violence against its supporters. In a recent report Amnesty International, the human rights group, said 180 people had been killed and 9,000 injured since March, blaming the security forces, Zanu-PF and pro-Mugabe veterans for most violence. Mr Tsvangirai and other MDC leaders have been concerned that failure to secure control of either the police force or the army would make it impossible to agree a wider division of power. According to The Herald, a pro-government newspaper, Zanu-PF was reluctant to hand control of the police to the MDC because it alleged the opposition party was training anti-government militias.

In the end, it comes down to whoever has control of the police and security agencies having the upper hand, and once can be sure that President Robert Mugabe will do what he can do to retain control of these agencies.

South African former leader Thabo Mbeki said he was “very optimistic” about the chances of a breakthrough in talks Monday to resolve the deadlock between Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and President Robert Mugabe. Mbeki and several leaders from the 12-member Southern African Development Community were in Harare Monday to meet with Tsvangirai and Mugabe in a bid to salvage the power-sharing deal signed last month.
The power-sharing agreement was to end months of turmoil and violence that followed the country’s March presidential elections. Tsvangirai garnered the most votes in March but did not win enough to avoid a runoff with Mugabe, who has ruled the country since its independence from Britain in 1980. The MDC leader withdrew days before the June 27 runoff with Mugabe, alleging that Mugabe’s supporters had waged a campaign of violence and intimidation against opposition supporters. He said he could not participate in the election.

Getting the tension resolved, getting a smooth Government in operation, and creating an atmosphere conducive to the smooth running of industries (including getting back investors) is necessary to prevent Zimbabwe from continuing on the current path of economic disaster.

Zimbabwe’s power-sharing agreement marks a new turn in mediation efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki in the country wracked by the world’s highest inflation rate, the African Union said.
Under the agreement, the Movement for Democratic Change’s Tsvangirai, 56, will become prime minister, heading a council of ministers, said a senior member of the MDC’s governing national executive and two members of the politburo of Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. The three officials declined to be identified because the deal is confidential until it’s announced on Sept. 15.

If this agreement comes to a successful conclusion, there may be a chance the decline of Zimbabwe may get reversed. Zimbabwe has been suffering through incorrect economic policies, and undergoes the highest inflation rate in the world (in the millions). With a new Prime Minister (although the current President Robert Mugabe remains in his post), there is a hope that he can bring about changes in policies that would stem the decline in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s troubled central bank introduced $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy. As high as they are, though, the bills still aren’t enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can buy only four oranges. The new note is equal to just one U.S. dollar. Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since it gained independence in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.

In January, the government issued bills in denominations of $1 million, $5 million, and $10 million — and in May, it issued bills from $25 million and $50 million up to $25 billion and $50 billion. The new bills are actually bearer checks and have an expiration date of December 31. Zimbabwe has not had formal currency since the introduction of bearer checks as a temporary measure in 2003.

This is just another manifestation of the utter lack of governance in the country for the past many years, and the only approach that the Government takes is to blame either the business community, or to blame outside powers.

Zimbabwe’s opposition party on Tuesday formally withdrew its presidential candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, from Friday’s run-off, a spokesman told CNN. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) hand-delivered a letter signed by Tsvangirai to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, saying it will not participate in the runoff with President Robert Mugabe, spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, he said “This is total war and we cannot be part of that war. “This is not an election because the conditions are just horrendous.” He added, “I’ve been arrested, I’ve been brutalized — this is not exaggeration. This is reality here.” Tsvangirai announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the runoff, citing what he called an ongoing campaign of political harassment, intimidation and arrests by Mugabe’s government and the ruling Zanu-PF party.

This decision will just complicate things in Zimbabwe. Mugabe is now sure to win a runoff that is bound to come under incredible criticism from the international community (and mostly be deemed as invalid). Mugabe really does not care too much for the international community, but the country has really suffered in the past few years, and is likely to continue doing so.

Zimbabwe’s opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, is discussing pulling out of next week’s presidential runoff, a source close to the MDC leadership told CNN. The MDC has blamed Mugabe and his ZANU-PF party supporters for beatings, kidnappings, arrests, and the deaths of more than 70 people since the March 29 election. MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai has complained of harassment after being detained several times in recent weeks, and MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti appeared in court Friday on charges including treason, which carries the death penalty.
Under land redistribution policies he started in 2000, Mugabe seized white-owned farms and gave the land to black Zimbabweans, saying they were cheated under colonial rule. The number of white-owned farms in Zimbabwe, once in the thousands, has since dwindled to about 400. Most of the redistributed land has not been harvested, and many analysts blame Zimbabwe’s economic collapse — including staggering inflation and unemployment — on the farm seizures.

The chief weapon that Mugabe wields is the threat of arrest or violence, and he will easily use these weapons as is suitable for him. Pressure from the international community (not from South Africa unfortunately) has been unable to sway his actions. What is true is that if the MDC does not take part in the elections after alleging force, then the elections will have a severe loss of credibility, and may not even be acknowledged as valid elections.

However, even this has caused problems, since the election results have been badly disputed and the whole elections have become very controversial. The opposition claims that they won the election and that Mugabe’s Government has refused to accept this result and will do what it can to thwart the overall results:

Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has returned home to Zimbabwe in preparation for a run-off election due on 27 June. During recent weeks Mr Tsvangirai has been jetting around Africa and beyond, drumming up support. But back in Zimbabwe he has been criticised from some quarters for abandoning his supporters in their hour of need.
As the run off election approaches, the playing field is far from level and there are plenty of people keen to cling on to their positions in Zimbabwe at all costs. So levering Mr Mugabe out of office will still be a mountainous task.
Key to Mr Tsvangirai’s future is backing from African leaders especially amongst the regional grouping, Sadc, from whom Mr Mugabe has traditionally received strong support. But that support is eroding as Zimbabwe’s economic and political crisis deepens.

No one claims that the opposition leader is the panacea to all the ills that currently beset Zimbabwe, but there is still a hope that he will be better than Robert Mugabe, but that is only if Mugabe takes his exit gracefully and does not try to cling on through all efforts.