MDC negotiators leave for South Africa
The MDC negotiators led by Secretary-General, Tendai Biti, yesterday left for South Africa for the resumption of the stalled inter-party dialogue between the three major political formations in the country.
The MDC has left for the talks to take further its compelling case following the national council's rejection of the SADC recommendations of 9 November 2008, which skirted the major sticking issues that have scuttled the negotiations.
The negotiators will raise issues regarding the facilitation, Zanu PF's lack of sincerity in the dialogue as well as the reductionist tendency to reduce and narrow down the sticking issues to the ministry of Home Affairs, and lately to Constitutional Amendment Number 19.
The MDC national council met on Friday, 14 November 2008 and rejected the SADC resolution which sought to reduce the sticking points only to the Ministry of Home Affairs (see here). The MDC notes that Zanu PF initially said the only sticking issue was the Ministry of Finance, and then changed it to Home Affairs and now to Constitutional Amendment Number 19.
The national council, the MDC's supreme-decision making body, resolved that the party will not join the inclusive government until all the sticking issues are addressed. The sticking issues include the equitable distribution of ministerial portfolios, the composition and powers of the National Security Council, the outstanding issue of the provincial governors, the appointment of Permanent Secretaries and ambassadors, the correction of Zanu PF's fraudulent alteration of the Global Political Agreement of 15 September 2008 and the enactment of Constitutional Amendment Number 19.
The MDC notes with concern Zanu PF's intransigence and its continued lack of sincerity which have stood in the doorway of an amicable political settlement; a settlement which does not reduce the MDC to a junior partner when it is the MDC which won credible elections on 29 March.
There is a further threat to the talks. Despite undertaking to respect citizens' rights as enshrined in the Global Political Agreement signed by the political principals in Harare on 15 September 2008, 14 MDC activists from Banket, including a two-year old child, in Mashonaland West province are missing after they were abducted from their homes in pre-dawn raids a month ago.
The State is in contempt of court after it failed to bring the activists to court despite a High Court order to that effect.
Statement issued by the Movement for Democratic Change, November 25 2008
