By Fiona Forde
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change lost bargaining power at a critical moment when they failed to rush through three amendments to the Memo of Understanding (MOU) at the eleventh hour.
As Morgan Tsvangirai, President Robert Mugabe and Arthur Mutambara sat with President Thabo Mbeki on the 17th floor of the Rainbow Towers in Harare on Monday, waiting to put their names to the five-page document, the parties' negotiators sat a few floors down, arguing over the fine details.
Tsvangirai leads the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change and Mutambara heads a breakaway MDC faction.
It is understood that the MDC attempted to rush through three clauses just minutes before it was due to be signed.
The first called for recognition of the right of the people of Zimbabwe to elect a government of their choice.
The second appealed for each party's negotiators to have the right to liaise with the recently appointed Reference Group and report all progress on the dialogue, or lack thereof.
The third clause asked that each party's two-man team of negotiators be expanded to five.
However, they failed to secure agreement on any one of the three, their counterparts saying that Monday afternoon was not the time to stall dialogue, particularly with Mugabe and Tsvangirai waiting for more than an hour upstairs to sign the historic agreement in which they finally recognised each other as political opponents.
The MDC was advised to sign on Monday and negotiate later.
However, an MDC sympathiser close to the talks argued that yesterday's setback should be not be viewed as a defeat.
"Mugabe has finally acknowledged Tsvangirai as a player, and a significant player at that, in the opposition. He has publicly recognised that Morgan is needed to have a political settlement in the country.
"And he is indirectly telling the world that without Morgan, you can't move the country forward. You must also view it as an acknowledgment by Mbeki, by the SADC and by the local political leadership, that Morgan must be counted."
The source referred to Friday's appointment of the Reference Group, when Mbeki appointed diplomats from the Southern African Development Community, African Union and UN as a support mechanism for all future negotiations.
"That was a key development," he says, "having oversight in the negotiations, especially from such an open-minded group as the Reference Group."
The main points of the MOU signed by Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Mutambara are:
- Parties agree to commit themselves to dialogue towards creating a permanent and sustainable solution to the crisis.
- Parties acknowledge the ultimate goal of forming an inclusive government.
- The agenda is to include the objectives of a new government, economic stability and growth, sanctions and land reforms.
- The agenda is to include discussions on a new constitution, promotion of national unity, external interference, free political activity and the rule of law.
- Parties agree to condemn violence, to ensure the law is applied fairly to everyone irrespective of political affiliation.
- Parties will refrain from hate speech that may incite political intolerance and ethnic hatred.
- Parties to discuss the time framework of a new government.
- The dialogue should be accomplished over two weeks.
- During dialogue, the parties shall not take any decisions that will affect the talks, such as convening parliament or forming a new government.
- The implementation of the global political agreements that the parties will conclude, shall be underwritten and guaranteed by the facilitator, SADC, and the AU.
- Parties will not communicate the substance of talks directly or indirectly to the media.
For a copy of the MOU see www.iol.co.za