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Zimbabwean
civil society groups step up pressure on Mugabe government
Ndimyake
Mwakalyele & Patience Rusere, VOA News
July 21, 2006
http://www.voanews.com/english/Africa/Zimbabwe/2006-07-21-voa52.cfm
Top officials
of seven Zimbabwean opposition parties were scheduled to converge
in Bulawayo on Saturday to exchange ideas and present themselves
to voters.
The Bulawayo
Agenda advocacy group invited the presidents of both factions
of the Movement for Democratic Change, the Zimbabwe African People's
Union-Federal Party, the United People's Party, the Democratic Party,
the United People's Movement, and the Patriotic Union of Matabeleland.
However, MDC founding
President Morgan Tsvangirai told the group that a confllicting political
engagement would prevent him from attending. Bulawayo Agenda Program
Director Xolani Zitha said one of Tsvangirai's lieutenants was expected.
He added that the Bulawayo Agenda is not affailiated with any particular
political party.
Senior political
science lecturer John Makumbe of the University
of Zimbabwe said the exclusion of other opposition parties such
as Zanu-Ndonga, the United Party and the National Alliance of Good
Governance, among others, would not diminish the significance of
the gathering, as the main parties would be represented.
Separately, members
of the Crisis
Coalition in Zimbabwe, an umbrella organization for hundreds
of civic groups, passed a vote of no confidence in the diplomatic
talks which President Robert Mugabe has proposed between Harare
and London, with former president Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania serving
as his mediator.
Civil society
groups say mediation by Mkapa and talks with London will not address
critical issues of poor governance at home.
The Crisis Coalition
said its members will gather next week to seek alternatives to the
Mkapa process. The Crisis Coalition and the Christian Alliance of
religious leaders will meet in a one-day convention July 29 to discuss
how to press Harare for a redraft of the constitution as an essential
preparatory step to a fresh round of elections.
The organizers
of this so-called ''Save-Zimbabwe'' convention have invited ZANU-PF
Information and Publicity Secretary Nathan Shamuyarira, also a member
of the party's Politburo, according to Crisis Coalition spokesman
Itayi Zimunya.
He said in an
interview with reporter Patience Rusere of VOA's Studio 7 for Zimbabwe
that civil society groups meanwhile will pursue resistance to the
authorities at lower levels - for instance mobilizing Harare residents
against the city commission that the central government appointed
to replace an opposition-dominated city council.
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